Mallee (habit)

Mallee are trees or shrubs, mainly certain species of eucalypts, which grow with multiple stems springing from an underground lignotuber, usually to a height of no more than 10 m (33 ft).

In the colony of South Australia in the late 19th century, legislation which encouraged closer settlement made it even tougher for farmers to make a living.

[7] Grubbing the mallee lands was a laborious and expensive task estimated at £2–7 per acre,[8] and the government offered a £200 reward for the invention of an effective machine that would remove the stumps.

[9] To assist with the challenges of farming on mallee lands, some settlers turned their minds to the invention of technologies that could make some of the tasks easier.

[12][13] The term is applied to both the tree itself and the whole plant community in which it predominates,[1] giving rise to the classification of mallee woodlands and shrublands as one of Australia's major vegetation groups.