Eastern Ontario Native Cactus

Paul Ont · Post by **Paul Ont** » Sun Jun 17, 2012 9:13 am

Inspired by Barb's pictures of here native O. fragilis, I am here posting some pics I took of the disjunct population of O. fragilis in Eastern Ontario, near Kaladar. The next occurrence is some 700km west of this location. Interesting to note is that this cactus is extremely local near Kaladar, being confirmed from only 2 locations despite the availability of acceptable habitat. The population was first confirmed in the 1930's and, to my knowledge, there has not been a recorded flowering of these plants since their discovery.

I had the privilege of accompanying a couple of very knowledgeable cactus-lovers, Andrew (Kew Gardens, London, U.K.) and Mats (U of Upsala, Upsala, Sweden) who were travelling around Canada observing the native cactus species and hybrids from B.C. to Alberta, to Ontario.

Anyway, a couple of pics:
It grows only on South facing granite rocks that bake in the sun:
<a href="http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2555 ... XSnO"><img src="http://inlinethumb57.webshots.com/50424 ... 600Q85.jpg" alt="DSC03612"></a>

Rough idea of what the habitat looks like, there are many of these outcrops but the cactus are not found on most of them:
<a href="http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2130 ... YZbF"><img src="http://inlinethumb53.webshots.com/29428 ... 600Q85.jpg" alt="DSC03615"></a>
<a href="http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2592 ... Jrxc"><img src="http://inlinethumb25.webshots.com/50520 ... 600Q85.jpg" alt="DSC03620"></a>

Mats earns the gold star for discovering the first of these plants in bud:
<a href="http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2812 ... XMsf"><img src="http://inlinethumb17.webshots.com/50064 ... 600Q85.jpg" alt="DSC03617"></a>

Another shot of the buds:
<a href="http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2916 ... Hkvv"><img src="http://inlinethumb50.webshots.com/1969/ ... 600Q85.jpg" alt="DSC03618"></a>

We then went to my cactus garden to check out some plants. I missed the open flowers though... Oh well:
<a href="http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2299 ... NfyK"><img src="http://inlinethumb55.webshots.com/47862 ... 600Q85.jpg" alt="DSC03621"></a>
<a href="http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2365 ... NFMz"><img src="http://inlinethumb61.webshots.com/47676 ... 600Q85.jpg" alt="DSC03622"></a>
<a href="http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2706 ... oHRd"><img src="http://inlinethumb35.webshots.com/30306 ... 600Q85.jpg" alt="DSC03623"></a>
<a href="http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2399 ... EgKK"><img src="http://inlinethumb01.webshots.com/41216 ... 600Q85.jpg" alt="DSC03624"></a>

It's difficult to see but this is Tim's recurv x filata blooming for the first time (well, not in bloom yet):
<a href="http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2418 ... jUdJ"><img src="http://inlinethumb47.webshots.com/49262 ... 600Q85.jpg" alt="DSC03627"></a>

<a href="http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2726 ... peDT"><img src="http://inlinethumb11.webshots.com/39626 ... 600Q85.jpg" alt="DSC03626"></a>

<a href="http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2533 ... KWeV"><img src="http://inlinethumb06.webshots.com/38597 ... 600Q85.jpg" alt="DSC03628"></a>

Thanks!

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sun Jun 17, 2012 11:56 am

Interesting, Paul!
Wonder if the tour traversed my area.

Habitat here is also south facing, steep hills.
We have few exposed rock faces, but relatively thin soil underlaid with shale.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/southslope/1544189985/" title="DSC00469 by edible_plum, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2224/1544 ... 8a12_z.jpg" width="480" height="640" alt="DSC00469"></a>

Ontario's opuntia grows atop rocks?
Most years in summer we could fry an egg on a rock (except this year)

Barb

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 12:25 am

Hi Paul

Nice habitat photos of those native cactus

Your cactus look great too!

The Yucca hybrid in bloom looks good.......I can't wait to see what traits the bloom will have!

Paul Ont · Post by **Paul Ont** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 6:52 am

Tim- There is also a filamentosa sending up a stalk... It is perhaps 1/2 as thick and will be (estimate) about 1/2 as tall.

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 3:30 am

Hi Paul

The Y. recurvifolia 'Tennessee' has the most massive bloom in my garden. The distance from the lowest white flower to the top white flower is probably over five feet. The flower density is very high too. I hope you hybrid gets bloom traits from the 'Tenn' parent.

Paul Ont · Post by **Paul Ont** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 4:39 am

Barb- The Kaladar cactus is VERY local, as I said only growing on rock outcrops. It was a mild day on my visit (21C) and even at that temperature the sun turned the rock into an oven! Always interested in seeing the different Canadian cactus locales. Yours is more open than some B.C. habitats.

canadianplant · Post by **canadianplant** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 6:19 am

No Cacti native up here... too wet

I do however have some type of Opuntia growing in my community bed. It doesnt look like the native cactus pictured above. The spines are thinner and much closer together. IT managed to survive the 140mm of rain we got a few weeks ago..

My Y Filamentosa did too, its putting out 5 new leaves at once!

Great pics paul.....

Paul Ont · Post by **Paul Ont** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 8:24 am

Jesse- Closest that I know of to you is at Lake of the Woods, same species as is found near my place, and similar habitat (i.e. rock outcrops).

http://www.rainyriverrecord.com/node/10319

Do you have a picture of yours? I can probably get an I.D. on it...

Cheers!

canadianplant · Post by **canadianplant** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 10:53 am

Here it is. Sry for the quality, had to use my bad camera..

Paul Ont · Post by **Paul Ont** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 11:54 am

Ah yes. Opuntia polyacantha.. Native to Sask and Alberta, can be found as well in Manitoba, but probably not native. There are some interesting plants in the interior of B.C. that are similar to that, but, probably a results of hybridization...

Hmm. Once again too much information, but there you have it!

canadianplant · Post by **canadianplant** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 12:18 pm

It did look like some I seen out in Drumhellar. I was surprised about the amount of cacti that were growing there. Thanks for the ID

Also, there is no such thing as "too much information", as far as Im concerned

Cameron_z6a_N.S. · Post by **Cameron_z6a_N.S.** » Thu Jun 21, 2012 7:48 pm

Paul, these really are fantastic pics. The only Kaladar pics I can seem to find are always grainy and look like they were taken in the 1970s

. I know that some people think they were introduced; what are your thoughts on this? It would seem odd to me to introduce some cacti in such a remote location. Also, I think I remember reading some stuff on a possible disjunt population near Nepean which has now disappeared.

Paul Ont · Post by **Paul Ont** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 5:44 am

Cam- Stay tuned. I think they are native, and I think I have some further information on that. I still need to do a thorough investigation of the area to see if there are additional populations are present.

The Nepean plant was definitely placed there and was non-native. It would be like O. fragilis popping up in Clayton Park and people thinking that it was natural!

Cameron_z6a_N.S. · Post by **Cameron_z6a_N.S.** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 9:09 pm

Paul, was the Nepean plant in a relatively urban area? I would also have a feeling that it's non-native, but then again, people could also try to make that argument for the Kaladar population!