I do believe that is it ! I have some squirrel friends who love to, well, squirrel away, the raw peanuts we put out for them over the winter. thank you !

A hickory is what was removed. The other forum thought that it might be suckers, too. Will these grow into a healthy tree if I leave it? Thanks everyone. It is so nice to be in the presence of such brilliant folks. Seriously. It never occurred to me that it might be a sucker. Just as an interesting aside, we lost an oak out back, but just cut it to ground level. I now have an oak bush there. I sort of love it in all its weirdness. ;) Cynthia

I'd ask for a recommendation from a experienced southern CA gardener - rather than a rampant hosta-phile from the Great White North. Some things just don't transplant well... With proper care (watering, maybe some shading, good site prep) you should be able to put that little Fig right in the ground. As no one else mentioned it: Maple species will have opposite arrangement of foliage, whereas your Fig should have alternate arrangement of simple leaves. Shape of the leaf should almost never be your first clue on plant ID.

Compare with Prunus serotina, native black cherry.