Burt-Utley & Utley 1987 (Article) Hechtia

Contributions Toward a Revision of Hechtia (Bromeliaceae)

Author(s):—K. Burt-Utley & J.F. Utley

Publication:—Brittonia 39(1): 37-43. (1987)

Abstract:—Hechtia Klotzsch (Bromeliaceae) is a genus of approximately 50 terrestrial and epilithic species distributed from southern Texas to Nicaragua. With few exceptions, species grow in regions of limited rainfall on calcareous soils and are likely to be locally abundant. All species known are apparently dioecious. Of the 45 species recognized by Smith and Downs (1974), 39 are endemic to Mexico. The majority of these taxa are known only from the type collection and often only from one sex. Smith (1937) was the first to recognize that species were dimorphic and proposed that separate keys were necessary for pistillate and staminate individuals. In addition to differences in petal shape, which previously have been reported, in some species we examined, there are also significant differences in floral bract shape and size, sepal shape, and inflorescence form. Staminate inflorescences of some taxa (e.g., H. melanocarpa Lyman B. Smith) are tripinnate while pistillate inflorescences of the same species are consistently bipinnate. Given these distinctions, when a species is known from only one sex, it is difficult to impossible to correctly identify collections of the other sex. Although Smith and Downs (1974) characterize the Hechtia inflorescence as usually being lateral, 30 of 36 species we have observed during our research have terminal inflorescences. Lateral inflorescences appear to be restricted to a small group of about seven species, including H. glomerata Zucc. and the closely related H. argentea Baker, H. elliptica Lyman B. Smith, H. mexicana Lyman B. Smith, H. schottii Baker ex Hemsley, H. texensis S. Watson, and H. zacatacae Lyman B. Smith. As part of our ongoing study of Hechtia, two species are herein proposed as new and one other is re-evaluated.

Published names (2):

Hechtia fragilis
Hechtia lymansmithii