Its leaves are narrow cylinders, the flowers in small yellow heads and the fruits tightly packed together in oval clusters.

Flowering occurs between October and December and is followed by fruit which are woody capsules packed closely together so that they appear as a single structure, 6–8 mm (0.2–0.3 in) long and slightly less in diameter.

[2] Melaleuca scalena was first formally described in 2004 by Lyndley Craven and Brendan Lepschi in Australian Systematic Botany from a specimen collected 27 kilometres (20 mi) north-west of Babakin.

[3][4] The specific epithet (scalena) is from the Latin word meaning "unequal"[5] referring to the impoverished appearance of this species compared to Melaleuca hamata.

[2] This melaleuca occurs in and between the Wyalkatchem, Mount Walker, Woodanilling and Dumbleyung districts[2] in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie, Esperance Plains, Jarrah Forest, Mallee and Yalgoo biogeographic regions.