Ilex cochlearifolia Schlüssel and Barriera is one of the few species of Ilex L. to have leaf blades almost as wide as long. It is a shrub, often sarmentose or scrambling, with leaf blades obovate, typically spoon shaped and retuse, and the inflorescences are thyrses. Treelet or shrub often with sarmentose shoots, 1–5 m tall; young branchlets glabrous or pubescent, old branchlets glabrescent; stipules caducous, 0.1–0.2 mm long; petiole 3–7 mm long, glabrous or pubescent. Leaf blade 0.5–3 × 0.5–2.5 cm, obovate, orbicular, leathery, glabrous, not punctate or sparsely punctate abaxially, midvein adaxially impressed, abaxially raised, lateral veins abaxially unconspicuous, 2–3 pairs, reticulate veins abaxially unconspicuous, base acute or obtuse, margin recurved, entire or dentate on distal half, teeth conspicuous, 1 pairs of teeth, apex truncate, retuse or not, mucronate or not. Inflorescences in thyrse, rarely proliferating, axillary on current year's branchlets. Male inflorescences in cymes of order 1 or 2, peduncles glabrous or glabrescent, of order 1: 4–6 mm long, of order 2: 0.4–1.5 mm long; flowers 4-merous, calyx glabrous or glabrescent, corolla 1–1.5 mm long, white, petals connate on 10–20 % of their length, rudimentary ovary pyramidal or sub-globular or flattened, glabrous. Female inflorescences in cymes of order 1(–2), peduncles glabrescent, of order 1: 4–7 mm long; flowers 4-merous, calyx glabrous, corolla 1.5 mm long, white, petals connate on 10 % of their length, staminodes glabrous, ovary ovoid, glabrous, stigma capitate, glabrous. Fruits globose, white or reddish-pink (on labels). Etymology. – The epithet cochlearifolia refers to the spoon shape of the leaves. Distribution, ecology and phenology. – From Panama to Ecuador (Carchi and Esmeraldas), at elevations from 1000–2000(–2900) m. The new species grows in humid submontane and montane, evergreen and semi-deciduous, primary and secondary forests and subparamos. The flowering period extends from May to August. Notes. – Ilex cochlearifolia belongs to the Ecuadorian Ilex species with small leaves as I. ericoides Loes., I. microphylla, I. ovalis (Ruiz & Pav.) Loes., I. quitensis, and I. suprema Cuatrec., but none of them display spoon shaped leaves. The leaf blade margin entire or with only one pair of teeth distinguishes I. cochlearifolia from I. microphylla, I. ovalis, and I. suprema, which have the leaf blade margin always dentate with 2–17 pairs of teeth. The new species can be distinguished from I. ericoides, I. quitensis, and I. suprema by the number of pairs of secondary veins (2–3 vs. 4–8).