In food-productive river basins, ecosystems reliant on natural flows are affected by climate change and water removal. One such example is Australia’s Murray–Darling Basin (MDB), to which the ecologically important black box tree Eucalyptus largiflorens (Myrtaceae) is unique. Little is known about its mineral nutrition and response to flooding. A field study conducted at Hattah Kulkyne National Park on the MDB examined nutrient and Al distribution in mature and young foliage of trees whose status varied with respect to the presence of surface floodwaters. Black box is also of interest due to emerging evidence of its capacity to accumulate high foliar salt concentrations. Here, cryo scanning electron microscopy alone (SEM), combined with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy were applied to evaluate leaf anatomy and elemental patterns at the cellular and whole-leaf levels. Variation in whole-leaf elemental levels across flooded and dry trees aligned with known nutritional fluctuations in this drought-tolerant species reliant on occasional infrequent flooding. The microprobe data provide evidence of drought tolerance by demonstrating that extended conditions of lack of water to trees do not elicit leaf anatomical changes nor changes to leaf cellular storage of these elements. Foliar Na concentrations of ~2000–6000 mg kg^–1 DW were found co-localised with Cl in mesophyll and dermal cells of young and mature leaves, suggesting vacuolar salt disposal as a detoxification strategy.

在生产粮食的河流流域，依赖于自然流量的生态系统受到气候变化和水流失的影响。一个这样的例子是澳大利亚的墨累-达令盆地 (MDB)，具有重要生态意义的黑箱树Eucalyptus largiflorens（桃金娘科）是独一无二的。人们对其矿物质营养和对洪水的反应知之甚少。在 MDB 的哈塔库尔金国家公园进行的一项实地研究检查了树木成熟和年轻树叶中的养分和铝分布，这些树木的状态因地表洪水的存在而异。黑匣子也很有趣，因为新出现的证据表明它能够积累高浓度的叶面盐分。在这里，单独使用低温扫描电子显微镜 (SEM)，结合能量色散光谱 (SEM-EDS) 和 X 射线荧光 (XRF) 光谱来评估细胞和全叶水平的叶片解剖结构和元素模式。淹没和干燥树木的全叶元素水平的变化与这种依赖偶尔罕见洪水的耐旱物种的已知营养波动一致。微探针数据通过证明树木缺水的长期条件不会引起叶片解剖结构变化，也不会引起叶片细胞储存这些元素的变化，从而提供了耐旱性的证据。叶面 Na 浓度约为 2000–6000 mg kg^–1 DW 与 Cl 共定位于幼叶和成熟叶的叶肉和真皮细胞中，表明液泡盐处理是一种解毒策略。