A New Species of Hechita (Bromeliaceae, Pitcairnoideae) from the Cape Region, Baja California Sur, Mexico

Hechtia gayli is described and illustrated and its relationship to other members of the genus is discussed. In the spring of 1968, Ed and Betty Gay of Tarzana, California, discovered, in a smal1 canada near the beach west of San Jose del Cabo, a hillside "covered with hechtias" (Gay 1969). Propagules were collected, some of which were later presented to the Huntington Botanical Garden, San Marino, California, and subsequently introduced into the horticultural trade under the name Hechtia montana 'Burgundy.' The clone name was in reference to the distinctive red coloring of the leaves as seen in cultivated plants. The only Hechtia recorded in Baja California is H. montana Brandegee, which, though described by Smith and Downes (1974) as imperfectly known, is a common plant on mountainous hillsides in the Cape Region of southern Baja California, often growing in large masses and known locally as magueycillo. The species also is known on the mainland in Sonora and Sinaloa (Shreve and Wiggins 1964). When a plant from the Gay collection grown at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden bloomed during March, 1994-the only plant known to have bloomed under cultivation-it became evident that it was not Hechtia montana. A search of the literature discloses that it apparently represents an undescribed species. Hechtia gayii L. W. Lenz, sp. nov. Fig. 1-4, 5 Plantae saxatiles, parva per generis, acaules, rosulas compactas ca. 30 em in diametro facientes; propagula basi numerosum; folia recurvata (hortensi sanguineo-grisei), dense imbricata, usque ad 15 em longa; laminae lineari-triangu!ares, acutae, 2-3 em latae, marges fortiter spinosae, dentibus uncifortnibus brunneo-vinosibus, infra lepidotae; scapus erectus, cylindraceus, ca. 65 em longus, ca. 7 em in diametro, simplex; rami simplices usque ad 7.5 em longi, horizontales vel .ascendentes, tomentosi; rachis crassa, cristis tenuibus decurrentibus infra flores descententibus; bractae intimae foliifortnes dentibus uncifortnibus; bractae summae reductae, triangulares, sine dentes; flores non congestae, ca. 20, simgulares levites longior quam pedicelli; flores pistillatae infra, flores perfectae paucae ad centrum inflorescentiae; tlores pistillatae parvae, non expansae, pedicelli ca. 5-7 mm longi; sepala triangularia, pubescentia, basi brunneolia, usque ad 3 mm longa; petala viridis, obovata, usque ad 3 mm longa, apex acutus; stamina imperfecta inclusa; ovarium superum, laeve, glaberum, penitus 2-3 sulcatum inter carpellum; flores staminati craterifortnia, saepe 4-merous; apices cuspidati; pedicelli brevi; Iongitudo staminum prope longitudo petalorum; fructus ignotus. Typus L.

In the spring of 1968, Ed and Betty Gay of Tarzana, California, discovered, in a smal1 canada near the beach west of San Jose del Cabo, a hillside "covered with hechtias" (Gay 1969). Propagules were collected, some of which were later presented to the Huntington Botanical Garden, San Marino, California, and subsequently introduced into the horticultural trade under the name Hechtia montana 'Burgundy.' The clone name was in reference to the distinctive red coloring of the leaves as seen in cultivated plants.
The only Hechtia recorded in Baja California is H. montana Brandegee, which, though described by Smith and Downes (1974) as imperfectly known, is a common plant on mountainous hillsides in the Cape Region of southern Baja California, often growing in large masses and known locally as magueycillo. The species also is known on the mainland in Sonora and Sinaloa (Shreve and Wiggins 1964). When a plant from the Gay collection grown at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden bloomed during March, 1994-the only plant known to have bloomed under cultivation-it became evident that it was not Hechtia montana. A search of the literature discloses that it apparently represents an undescribed species.
Etymology.-Named for Mr. and Mrs. Ed. Gay, collectors and students of the Cactaceae.

Relationships
Hechtia gayii differs from all other described hechtias in being monoecious; however, in other species some remnant of the nonfunctional sex is usually present (Smith and Downes 1974). In many of the species of Hechtia differences between the sexes is often so extreme that it is necessary to key them separately (Smith 1937).
In their treatment of the neotropical members of Hechtia (Smith and Downes 1974), H. gayii keys out most closely to H. pedicellata, a saxicolous endemic known only from a barranca near Guadalajara, Jalisco (Fig. 5). The latter differs from H. gayii, however, in having a densely cylindric bipinnate inflorescence.
In Flora Novo-Galiciana (McVaugh 1989) Hechtia gayii keys out most closely to H. subalata L. B. Smith of southern Durango, southern Zacatecas, northern Nayarit and northern Jalisco (Fig. 5), and H. jaliscana L. B. Smith, an endemic known only from rocks in the barranca of Rio Grande de Santiago, Jalisco (Fig.  5), where it grows at elevations of 700-800 m. Other than being monoecious, H. gayii differs principally from H. subalata in being smaller, in having flowers not congested on the stem, and in having ovaries deeply sulcate between the carpels. It shares with H. subalata a subterete rachis with fine ridges decurrent from the flowers and fiercely spinose-marginated leaves. Both species occur on rocks and bluffs, H. subalata in the matorral associated with Acacia, Cercidium and Fouquieria at elevations of 800-1500 m, and H. gayii (Fig. 5) in the San Lucan thorn scrub growing with members of the above three genera but at nearly sea level. Hechtia gayii differs from H. jaliscana in having a smaller nonbranched inflorescence, with flowers not congested along the branches, whereas, so far as known, H. jaliscana has a twice compound, loosely