Mallee, rarely a tree, to 6 m tall. Forming a lignotuber.Bark rough for 2–3 m over the lower trunk, fibrous, flaky; smooth bark grey to white over orange-cream.Branchlets lacking oil glands in the pith. Juvenile growth (coppice or field seedlings to 50 cm): stems rounded to square in cross-section, not glaucous; leaves opposite, sessile and ovate-lanceolate at lower nodes, becoming alternate, shortly petiolate, lanceolate, 4–8 cm long, 1–3 cm wide, dull, grey-green to green.Adult leaves alternate, petiole 1.5–2.5 cm long; blade lanceolate to falcate, 6–15 cm long; 1.2–2.3 cm wide, base usually tapering to petiole, concolorous, usually dull green to blue-green to grey-green, rarely slightly glossy, side-veins usually greater than 45° to midrib, occasionally acute, densely to very densely reticulate, intramarginal vein parallel to and just within margin, oil glands numerous and mostly intersectional.Inflorescence axillary unbranched, peduncles (0.6)0.8–2 cm long, buds usually 9 to 13, pedicellate, pedicels 0.5–0.8 cm long. Mature buds narrowly ovoid to oblong (1.2–1.9 cm long, 0.35–0.5 cm wide), sometimes glaucous, scar present, operculum beaked or horn-shaped (0.7–1.4 cm long), stamens inflexed or irregularly flexed, often with the inner stamens inflexed and some the outer stamens erect, anthers versatile, globoid, dehiscing by lateral slits, style long, stigma tapered, locules 3 or 4, the placentae each with 4 vertical ovule rows. Flowers white to pale yellow.Fruit pedicellate, pedicels 0.2–0.7 cm long, barrel-shaped to urceolate, 0.5–0.9 cm long, 0.5–0.8 cm wide, disc descending, valves 3 or 4, enclosed but surmounted with prominently exserted but easily broken style remnants.Seeds grey to brown, (1.5)1.8–2.2 mm long, ovoid or depressed-ovoid, dorsal surface smooth, sometimes furrowed, hilum ventral.Cultivated seedling not seen by the authors [cotyledons Y-shaped (bisected), seedling leaves non-decurrent, fide Dean Nicolle].
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