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

"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

Or the mallee fowl, which assiduously builds an incubator for its eggs and keeps the temperature inside at a steady 95�, come rain or shine?

From Time Magazine Archive

Started early, and steered about North-East through dense mallee thickets, destitute of grass or water, for eighteen miles.

From Explorations in Australia, Illustrated, by Forrest, John

One tract of the mallee scrub, shared between Victoria and South Australia, covers an area of nearly 9000 square miles.

From Australian Pictures Drawn with Pen and Pencil by Willoughby, Howard