Qualea parviflora
# Qualea parviflora

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

## Description

Qualea parviflora grows up to 8 m (26 ft) tall. It flowers between September and December. Each flower as 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.

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

## Ecology

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

