Piper cunianense (Piperaceae), a new species from the Brazilian Amazon

Piper cunianense is described herein as a shrub with stems puberulent to glabrescent, leaves lanceolate and shiny on the adaxial surface when alive, with petioles vaginate to base of the blade. The spikes are pendulous with flowers arranged in a banded pattern around the rachis, floral bracts peltate and densely fimbriate, with fruits wide-obovoid, and deeply 3-sulcate. Piper cunianense is only known from the Cuniã Ecological Station and neighboring region, in the State of Rondônia, Brazil. Illustration, color photograph, distribution map, and morphological comparisons with similar species are presented.