Five New Species of Hechtia (Bromeliaceae; Hechtioideae) from Guerrero, Mexico

The genus Hechtia includes 84 species, 79 of them present in Mexico. With 12 species (including those described herein), the Mexican state of Guerrero is the third most diverse in species. As a result of botanical explorations for the project Bromeliaceae of Mexico, we describe here five new species for science, all endemic to Guerrero: Hechtia elegans, H. ensifolia, H. medusae, H. platyphylla, and H. pycnostachya. The proposed species are compared with other morphologically similar taxa (H. caulescens, H. flexilifolia, H. glauca, H. hintoniana, H. laxissima, and H. pretiosa). Morphological descriptions, images, and a distribution map of the described taxa are included, as well as an identification key for all the species of Hechtia currently known from Guerrero.