Blue Mallee

Eucalyptus polybractea is a mallee that typically grows to a height of 8–10 m (26–33 ft) and forms a lignotuber. It has rough, fibrous or flaky, greyish to brownish bark on the lower part of the trunk, smooth greyish to brownish bark above that is shed in ribbons. Young plants and coppice regrowth have bluish to glaucous, linear to lance-shaped leaves that are 40–150 mm (1.6–5.9 in) long and 3–16 mm (0.12–0.63 in) wide. Adult leaves are the same shade of bluish green on both sides, lance-shaped, 60–170 mm (2.4–6.7 in) long and 4–20 mm (0.16–0.79 in) wide, tapering to a petiole 4–15 mm (0.16–0.59 in) long. The flower buds are arranged in leaf axils in groups of seven, nine or eleven on an unbranched peduncle 4–12 mm (0.16–0.47 in) long, the individual buds on pedicels up to 4 mm (0.16 in) long. Mature buds are club-shaped to diamond-shaped, 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) long and 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in) wide with a conical to rounded operculum. Flowering mainly occurs from March to August and the flowers are white. The fruit is a woody, cup-shaped or barrel-shaped capsule 4–7 mm (0.16–0.28 in) long and 3–5 mm (0.12–0.20 in) wide with the valves near rim level.

Blue-leaved mallee has a wide, but sporadic distribution around West Wyalong in New South Wales and between Stawell and Bendigo in Victoria. In grows in mallee shrubland on loamy soils.