Hechtia texensis S. Watson

Hechtia scariosa L. B. Smith, Contr
Gray Herb. 117: 20. 1937.
Only the staminate plant known, probably 2 m. tall or more; leaves 35 cm. long; sheaths broadly ovate, 4 cm. long, denticulate toward apex, pale-brown, lustrous; blades narrowly triangular, 2 cm. wide, glabrous above, densely pale-appressed-lepidote beneath; scape slender, glabrous; upper scape-bracts ovate, acuminate, shorter than the internodes; inflorescence laxly pyramidal, 55 cm. long, minutely pale-lepidote; primary bracts like the scape-bracts, 25 mm. long; branches much divided, up to 16 cm. long, compressed near the base; racemes densely spiciform or lax near the base; floral bracts broadly ovate, acuminate, slightly shorter than the sepals, deep-rose with a broad scarious margin; flowers spreading; pedicels very short, obconic; sepals elliptic, acute, 6 mm. long, 1-5-nerved, deep-rose with a broad scarious margin; petals elliptic, obtuse, 9 mm. long, coimate for 3 mm.; stamens included, very unequal; renuiant of the ovary more than half superior.
Type locality: Limestone ledges, hills near Jimulco, Coahuila.
DisTRiBtmoN: Coahuila.

Hechtia texensis S. Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 20: 374. 1885
Plant variable in habit, 2 m. high; leaves many in a dense rosette, up to 8 dm. long; sheaths large, subovate; blades linear-triangular, pungent, up to 4 cm. wide, densely appressedcincreous-lepidote below, soon glabrous and shiny above, laxly serrate with uncinate spines up to 8 mm. long; scape erect, over 1 m. high, 2 cm. in diameter near base; scape-bracts erect, the lower subfoliaceous, densely imbricate, the upper remote, ovate, acuminate, brown when dry, subchartaceous ; inflorescence laxly bipinnate or tripinnate, subthyrsoid, sparsely white-floccose when young; branches up to 2 dm. long, at least the larger ones laxly flowered toward the base; floral bracts very broadly ovate, acute, hyaline with several dark nerves, shorter than the sepals; flowers subscssilc, erect or suberect, 8-10 mm. long; sepals broadly ovate, acute, up to 6 mm. long, white, membranaceotis, with 5 dark nerves, the central one extending to the margin, the female ones sotncwhat thickened with age; petals elliptic, white, white-lepidotc dorsally, the female short-connate, the male connate for about one-third their length; stamens included; ovary densely white-tomentose-lepidote; stigmas sessile.
TvPB locality: Limestone bluffs in the Great Bend of the Rio Grande, western Texas. Distribution: Southern and western Texas.