mallee

American  

[mal-ee] / ˈmæl i /

noun

1. any of various dwarf Australian eucalyptuses, as Eucalyptus dumosa and E. oleosa, that sometimes form large tracts of brushwood.

2. the brushwood itself.

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mallee British  

/ ˈmæliː /

noun

1. any of several low shrubby eucalyptus trees that flourish in desert regions of Australia

2. informal another name for the bush 1

3. See mallee root

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Etymology

Origin of mallee

First recorded in 1840–50; from Wergaia (an Australian Aboriginal language spoken in the Wimmera area, Victoria) mali

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mallee

"I discovered the species while surveying a rare plant in the Goldfields and noticed this bee visiting both the endangered wildflower and a nearby mallee tree," Dr. Prendergast said.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 25, 2025

She was at the house she built, surrounded by mallee trees and filled with prints of her own wildlife photographs: grizzly bears from a trip to Alaska, a small chameleon on an electric-green leaf.

From New York Times ● Apr. 25, 2019

The rest of the day's journey was through mallee scrub and sand hills, in which we camped without water; the feed, however, is abundant, yet not so thick as when I crossed before.*

From Explorations in Australia The Journals of John McDouall Stuart by Stuart, John McDouall

The face was fierce enough, and it poured a steady fire upon the girl from black eyes blazing in the double shade of a felt wideawake and the overhanging mallee.

From The Shadow of a Man by Hornung, E. W. (Ernest William)

Dip of the country to the east, sand hills to the west; afterwards it became alternate sand hills and grassy plains, mulga, mallee, and black oak.

From Explorations in Australia The Journals of John McDouall Stuart by Stuart, John McDouall