''Piper cutucuense'' is a species of
plant
Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...
in the family
Piperaceae
The Piperaceae (), also known as the pepper family, are a large family of flowering plants. The group contains roughly 3,600 currently accepted species in 5 genera. The vast majority of species can be found within the two main genera: ''Piper'' ( ...
. It is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to
Ecuador
Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...
. It is a shrub in the Andes foothills of southeastern Ecuador, at about 1,260 meters elevation.
In 2004, it was assessed to be endangered, not due to any specific threat targeting it, but due to threat of habitat loss. It was noted that it was not then in Ecuadorean museums, nor was it known to be growing in any of Ecuador's protected areas. In fact it is only known scientifically from a 1944 collection in one area.
References
Sources
Flora of Ecuador
cutucuense
Endangered plants
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
{{Piperales-stub