
Ecuador is home to an incredible diversity of plants, with about 17,000 species distributed between the Pacific coast, the Amazon, and the Andean mountains. The Andes region is the most diverse of the country and is precisely where the Quichinche parish, home to the partner communities of the Tandana Foundation, is located. One of the most iconic species from this area – and of all the Ecuadorian Andean region – is the Andean walnut locally known as tukti (in Kichwa), nogal or cedro negro (in Spanish) or Juglans neotropica (scientific name). Tukti is a slow-growth, broadleaf tree that can reach up to 30 meters in height. It can be found throughout the Andes in Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, and Bolivia where it inhabits forest between 1,400 meters and 2,200 meters of altitude.
Continue reading “What we learned about tukti: the endangered Andean Walnut traditionally valued by Kichwa communities”