Thursday, July 21, 2005
According to the most significant literature available dealing exclusively with the subject of Canadian cacti, colonies of Opuntia humifusa were wiped out on Pelee Island some years ago as the result of a natural disaster. Members of the Ontario Society were however skeptical that the entire humifusa population could have been completely wiped out and speculated that in fact something of the original population probably still survived on Pelee Island. In order to ascertain the true status of the cactus on the island 3 members of the OCSS, Ian Rabenda, Paul Davydov, and Oleg Solo went on an excursion to Pelee Island on this past June 30th, 2005.
After considerable effort a small wild population of the cactus was found on Pelee Island. The OCSS members braved rain, mosquitoes, biting flies, and an explosion of Mayflies but had a great time nevertheless. Inquiries with the local islanders revealed that in fact many residents were well aware that a remnant population of the cactus still existed on the island and it is clear that professional scientific monitoring of the plants is ongoing. Hopefully these remnants will form the basis of a recovering population of this endangered Canadian cactus.
