As part of botanical expeditions in the Amazonas region of North Peru, we found plants from the Central Andes (North Peru). Based on morphology and molecular data, the Peruvian population was described and illustrated here as a new species for Science, named Paronychia sanchez-vegae. The new species is compared with its most likely closest relative, P. andina from which differs by the larger size, its woody ramified stems, the glabrous leaf surface, shorter leaf size, shorter flowers and larger size of the ovary.