Carex toreadora is a little-known species of sedge

Carex

Carex is a genus of plants in the family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges. Other members of the Cyperaceae family are also called sedges, however those of genus Carex may be called "true" sedges, and it is the most species-rich genus in the family. The study of Carex is known as...

 from Ecuador

Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

. It was described in 1964 by the prolific plant collector Julian A. Steyermark, having been collected in 1943 at an altitude of 3785–3900 m (12,418–12,795.3 ) in Azuay Province

Azuay Province

Azuay is a province of Ecuador, created 25 June 1824. It encompasses an area of . Its capital is Cuenca. It is located in the south center of Ecuador in the highlands. Its mountains reach above sea level in the national park of El Cajas....

. There it grew in "moist mossy boggy places bordering [an] alpine lake". No further collections have ever been made, and the species is listed as endangered

Endangered species

An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...

 on the IUCN Red List

IUCN Red List

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species...

. It is classified in Carex sect. Ovales, and is thought to be closely related to species such as Carex mandoniana and Carex macloviana.