tree rescue: advice please

Hi group members.

This is all rather vague and I'm on my way out shortly so can't post a pic right now. I've been watching two lovely little trees near my place for a while now. No idea what they are but have the tinyest foliage and minute purple flowers and equally miniature seed pods.
Two days ago I was checking up on a few'altered' yamadori that I've been prepping for removal when I noticed one of my wee trees had bee pulled from the earth.
It must have just happened as everything was green and fresh. What was left of the root system is only two primary (tap) roots and literally two secondary roots. Absolutely no tertiary material at all. I took the little chap home and popped it into a glass jar of water on the balcony.
As mentioned, that was 2 days ago and so far none of the leaves have wilted, except those on obviously damaged branches.

What would be the protocol most of you would adopt to give this little tree a decent go in life? I'll post pictures tomorrow and hopefully get a decent ID on the thing. It stands about 15cm high with a proportionately thick trunk that's very well-textured. Ramification on the tree would hint at it being pretty old. It looks like it's seen the wrong end of municipal bush-trimming a few times in its life.

Thanks for any comments.

I think I'd get it out of the water (roots CAN drown). I'd take a sharp scissors or knife and cleanly trim the ends of any damaged roots and then I would plant them in a good, free-draining soil. Keep it in a shady spot for a week or two, but it should be outside. A dose of fertilizer -- half strength if you're one who worries about fertilizer damaging roots (it won't) -- will help it recuperate. Also trim away any broken branches, but leave as much foliage as possible.

I look forward to seeing a picture, but it is likely that I won't recognize a Dubai plant.

Thanks Jim.

I'll do the deed tomorrow and send pictures. Just need to get to bed now as I have an early start. I dare say it's not indigenous to Dubai, but will do the research and see.

D

I dare say it's not indigenous to Dubai, but will do the research and see.

Even so, I doubt that anything that grows in Dubai will be found here in the foothills of the blue Ridge Mountains. I look forward to the pictures.

Haha.

I dare say you wouldn't find these in your neck of the woods.

The thing is where I live is extremely saline desert with the water table just below the sand crust, so the diversity is low and 90+% of all plants are succulent in some form or another. The Tamarix are the only tree in any number with the odd Acacia tortillis thrown in. The rest are generally exotics that are artificially watered. Here's the link to see the pictures of my mystery tree. I'm useless with tree identification so it may well be something that everybody knows https://ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com/t7147-tree-rescue-id-anyone#74079