Eucalyptus decurva

Eucalyptus decurva, commonly known as the slender mallee, is a species of mallee that is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It has smooth whitish bark, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, pendulous flower buds arranged in groups of seven, white flowers and pendulous, more or less spherical fruit.

Description
Eucalyptus decurva is a mallee that typically grows to a height of 1.5-5 m and forms a lignotuber. The bark is smooth, white-gray, salmon to yellow-green and sometimes powdery. Young plants and coppice regrowth have dull greyish green leaves arranged in opposite pairs, oblong to elliptic or egg-shaped, 35-105 mm long and 30-70 mm wide. Adult leaves are arranged alternately, glossy green, lance-shaped to curved, 50-105 mm long and 12-25 mm wide on a petiole 10-20 mm long. The flower buds are pendulous and arranged in leaf axils in groups of seven on a peduncle 10-25 mm long, the individual buds on a pedicel 4-10 mm long. Mature buds are more or less cylindrical to pear-shaped, 5-10 mm long and 4-5 mm wide. Flowering occurs between April and October and the flowers are white to pale pink. The fruit is a pendulous, woody, more or less spherical capsule 7-11 mm long and 7-10 mm wide on a pedicel 3-12 mm long.

Taxonomy and naming
Eucalyptus decurva was first formally described in 1863 by Ferdinand von Mueller from a specimen collected by George Maxwell near the Porongurups and the description was published in Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae. The specific epithet (decurva) is a Latin word meaning "down-curved", referring to the flower buds.

Distribution and habitat
Slender mallee grows in sandy and lateritic soils in hilly coastal and near-coastal areas, mostly between the Stirling Range and Esperance but with disjunct populations near Perth.