Hechtia lyman-smithii grows on steep calcareous hillsides where it forms large clumps or mounds of several to many rosettes. It is the only species in the genus that we have observed so far with this growth habit. Scape bract and inflorescence form appear similar in both pistillate and staminate individuals, but vary within a population. Lowermost scape bracts exceed the internodes and generally have elongate blades, but in some specimens blade length is much reduced. Upper scape bracts range from longer than to shorter than the internodes. Unlike some species we have observed and collected, both staminate and pistillate inflorescences of H. lyman-smlthii are bipinnate. Lateral branches are commonly fertile throughout, or are occasionally proximally without flowers. Primary bract length relative to the sterile bases of the branches is variable and is not a reliable character in H. lyman-smithii. Lateral branches in most pistillate specimens and one staminate specimen had two basal collateral flowers. In pistillate individuals of Utley & Utley 6982, branches occasionally did not develop, leaving only the two collateral flowers at each node. On these flowers and those of other inflorescences, floral bracts were typically borne some distance up the longer pedicel, rather than at the pedicel-branch junction as observed elsewhere in the inflorescence, suggesting that these flowers may represent the reduction of a lateral branch to a single flower. In staminate inflorescences of both Utley & Utley 6794 and 6982, unusual flowers with four sepals and petals and eight stamens were intermixed with normal flowers consisting of three sepals and petals and six stamens. In the absence of pistillate material at anthesis, it is impossible to unequivocally determine whether pistillate flowers also have additional perianth parts; however, all capsules examined were trilocular. These atypical staminate flowers observed on H. lyman-smlthii are not only unusual in Hechtia, but also in the Bromeliaceae as a whole. Perfect or staminate flowers in the family are characterized as having three sepals, three petals, and six stamens (Mez, 1934-1935; Smith & Downs, 1974; Cronquist, 1981) —SeeLasser & Maguire 1950
