Eight of the 81 recognized species in Echeandia Ortega (Anthericaceae) occur in South America. Four species occur in Venezuela and/or Colombia, one in Ecuador, and three in Peru. The five species in subgenus Echeandia are endemic to South America, as is one of the three species in subgenus Mscavea Cruden. The other two species in subgenus Mscavea occur in both South and Central America. As many as five of the eight species are narrow endemics and four may be quite rare. A comparison of the isotypes of E. ciliata (Kunth) Cruden with material from Colombia, Venezuela, and Peru provided evidence that the type gathering was made in Cajamarca, Peru, rather than Caracas, Venezuela, as indicated in Kunth's 1815 protologue. Echeandia denticulata Cruden is proposed as a new species to accommodate material from Colombia and Venezuela, which was heretofore included in E. ciliata. Two new combinations, E. herrerae (Killip) Cruden and E. weberbaueri (Poelln.) Cruden, are made, and Anthericum glareosum Ravenna ( =  E. ciliata) and E. aequatoris Ravenna ( =  E. lehmannii (Baker) Marais & Reilly) are newly synonymized. A neotype for E. leucantha Klotzsch and a lectotype for E. ciliata are designated. Anthericum peruvianum Willd. ex Kunth is an illegitimate name.