I'm gonna guess it is a eucalyptus of some sort.

The leaves appear to be trifoliate. So no Eucalyptus I know of. How stiff is the stem. Could it be a vine?

Now I see the trifoliate.

Could it be this? Trees of Santa Cruz County: Rhus lancea - African Sumac

@Christopher CNC It may be a Eucalyptus sprout. I’ll take better pictures and post in a little while.

@floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK Definitely not a vine I don’t think. I dont know if its trifoliate either. I just looked that up and the leaves are a bit different. I will check and see stem and post more pics. Thanks.

Rhus lancea/Searsia lancea? I can't tell how the leaves are arranged on the stem, and R. lancea isn't known for red stems, but it's the closest I could guess without better photos.

Brachychiton populneus (Kurrajong)

What is going on in this thread? Has How-uzzlezz been "updating" again? The post by Floral wasn't showing when I made my post, but the time stamp shows a two hour difference, with Floral posting first. The OP's replies to Christopher and Floral also weren't showing when I opened the thread. It isn't the first time I've seen posts show up late, but this is one of the most egregious cases. Embarrassing...but I'm not sure if it's me or Houzz that should be embarrassed.

But since Floral came up with the same suggestion, I'm much more confident in the ID, lol.

It's definitely not Brachychiton populneus.

My first thought was a Brachychiton; perhaps B. rupestris.

The thing quite clearly has trifoliate leaves and opposite* arrangement. Separate leaflets in threes: not lobed, but separate. I can see it easily on my ipad. Maybe the OP could provide better pictures which would show these traits more clearly for those of you who can't make them out.

*corrected below. Should read alternate, not opposite.

Yup, it has trifoliate leaves, which eliminates any Brachychiton species, even in juvenile form. I can't see the opposite arrangement on my monitor (see my first post), but the trifoliate leaves support the Rhus lancea/Searsia lancea ID. Rhus lancea is also considered invasive in some states (CA, AZ), so stray seedlings are quite common.

My mistake. I meant to write alternate arrangement. Sorry for the confusion.

@floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK I couldn't see the arrangement at all, so I wouldn't have known the difference without new photos. It did confuse me a bit when you said "opposite" with the ID of R. lancea, but honestly, I just assumed you meant "alternate", lol. I certainly can't critique; quite often my fingers type faster than my brain can inform them.