Native to the central Andes of Peru, Cantua cuzcoensis is concentrated in the departments of Cusco, Apurímac, and Junín, where it grows as a woody shrub on montane slopes and in dry inter-Andean valleys. It is one of several Andean species known locally as cantuta, a name widely used for tubular, hanging Cantua flowers in highland towns and gardens. Inflorescences form loose, drooping clusters; each flower is a narrow tube that expands near the mouth into short, reflexing lobes, typically bicolored with yellow tubes and pink limbs over a green, ribbed calyx. Blooms are oriented downward from slender spur-like pedicels along twiggy branchlets, creating a lantern-like display. Photographed in the Sacred Valley of Peru.