Qualea parviflora

Qualea parviflora, known as pau-terra in Portuguese, is a deciduous tree indigenous to Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay.^[2] The tree favors dry climates like the tropical savanna of the cerrado.^[3][4][5]

Qualea parviflora
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Myrtales
Family:	Vochysiaceae
Genus:	Qualea
Species:	Q. parviflora
Binomial name
Qualea parviflora Mart.[1]

Description

Qualea parviflora grows up to 8 m (26 ft) tall. It flowers between September and December. Each flower has one light purple petal, a single stamen, a spurred calyx, and a three-parted ovary. Pau-terra can be distinguished from a close relative Qualea multiflora by its smaller flowers.^[6]

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  Illustration from Karl Friedrich Philipp von Martius's Nova genera et species plantarum

Ecology

The flowers are pollinated by bees.^[6] The seeds are eaten by buprestid beetles and small Hymenoptera species.^[6] Caterpillars of the dalcerid moth Dalcera abrasa feed on Quaela parviflora.^[7]