Eucalyptus porosa

Eucalyptus porosa, commonly known as mallee box or black mallee box, is a small tree or mallee in the family Myrtaceae endemic to southern Australia, occurring in South Australia, western Victoria and far southwestern New South Wales. It typically grows as a tree 5 to 12 metres tall, occasionally to 15 metres, or as a multi-stemmed mallee from a woody lignotuber on poorer sites. The bark is rough, dark grey to almost black, fibrous and persistent on the trunk and larger branches, while the smaller branches are smooth and pale grey. Adult leaves are alternate, lance-shaped to narrow-elliptic, 6 to 12 centimetres long, dull grey-green on both surfaces with a fine network of veins. Flower buds are borne in axillary clusters of seven on a slender peduncle, each with a conical to beaked operculum, opening to small creamy-white flowers from late summer to autumn. The fruit is a small woody hemispherical to cup-shaped capsule with valves enclosed below the rim, often persisting on the branches for several seasons.