Hechtia bracteata Mez
Taxonomic Change:
Literature references:
*move your mouse pointer over the page numbers to see comment
Comments:
- Type of vegetation. Matorral rosetofilo.
This species was described in 1896 by Mez being based on a masculine example and the original data has been used here to complete the description presented. It is quite probable that the example A. Espejo et al 6746 represents the feminine plant of H. bracteata, because it is the only population of Hechtia that is known today from the surroundings of Orizaba. However this example has a very old and deteriorated infructescence.
The name of this species has been considered, in other floristic treatments of the genus, as a synonym of Hechtia schottii Baker (Smith, 1961; Smith & Downs, 1974; Espejo & López-Ferrari, 1994) a native species of the states of Campeche and Yucatan (Ramírez et al. 2000). H. bracteata has branching rosettes, terminal inflorescences with short spikes, ample primary bracts that surpass the spikes, whereas H. schottii has plants on rhizomes, lateral inflorescences with lengthened spikes, not very conspicuous primary bracts and never surpassing the sterile part of the spikes. —See Espejo et al. 2005
- Hechtia bracteata ranges from Veracruz to adjacent Puebla between 6000 and 8000 ft elevation, where it grows on rocky, dry, exposed hillsides with low thorn-scrub vegetation. In these locations, it is an abundant and often dominant component of the vegetation. Vegetatively, unlike many —See Burt-Utley et al. 2011
