A xylopodium is an underground storage growth which is multibranched and may cover a circle 9 metres (30 ft) diameter. They differ from lignotubers which are more compact in form, like a tuber. They are most common in the cerrados of Brazil even including a monocot (Smilax goyazana), but the mallee roots of Australia are more like xylopodia than lignotubers sensu stricto.
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Xylopodium in the context of Mallee (habit)
Mallee are trees or shrubs, mainly certain species of eucalypts, which grow with multiple stems springing from an underground lignotuber or xylopodium, usually to a height of no more than 10 m (33 ft). The term is widely used for trees with this growth habit across southern Australia, in the states of Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria, and has given rise to other uses of the term, including the ecosystems where such trees predominate, specific geographic areas within some of the states and as part of various species' names.