Outdoors: Native Ohio plant a prickly subject
By Matt Markey / The Blade
Mon, 10 Aug 2020 17:23:05 GMT
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NEW ROCHESTER, Ohio — A sandy knoll located north of this tiny Wood County village is home to Fish Cemetery, a bucolic spiritual resting place with an ornate wrought iron arch at its entrance, and grave markers that date back to the 1800s.
This burial ground is also a sanctuary for one of Ohio’s most unique native plants. Although we instinctively associate cactus with the arid American southwest, the Eastern prickly pear, every bit the textbook image of a cactus with its thick, rounded pads or arms and array of spikes, is an indigenous Buckeye and a large established colony exists here.
Guy Denny, the retired chief of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, said the Eastern prickly pear likes the sandy soil deposits where it finds less competition with other vegetation, such as this cemetery site and in the Kitty Todd Nature Preserve and other sandy locales in the Oak Openings region of Northwest Ohio.
“The cemetery grounds are covered with a blanket of cactus leaf-like pads,” said Denny, who is a former director of the Ohio Biological survey and currently serves as the president of the Ohio Natural Areas and Preserves Association. “Every time they mow the lawn and cut up pieces of cactus pads, the fragments take root. You don't want to walk there in your bare feet.”
Denny described the Eastern prickly pear, which is sometimes referred to as devils tongue, as deserving of that alternate name.
“Large, scattered needle-like spines usually occur singly or in pairs on the pad surface,” he said. “Although these large spines are sharp, what you have to watch out for are the clusters of tiny, bristly spines clustered on the pads. They look harmless but become painfully embedded in the skin on contact.”
He added this robust patch near the Portage River and the dunes at Oak Openings are not the only bastions of the Eastern prickly pear in the state.
“Elsewhere in Ohio, it sporadically occurs where there are sparsely vegetated sand deposits, such as in the sand deposits along the Ohio River,” Denny said.
Adams County, tucked tight against the Ohio River where the waterway makes one of those EKG-like blips to the north, is another stronghold of the Eastern prickly pear cactus.
For 364 days in most years, the Eastern prickly pear is a rather humble, stout, and subdued member of the plant world. But once summer’s warmth has been rolled out and the sun works its magic, this cactus explodes in buttery yellow blooms with bright red or orange centers that each last only one day. Individual colonies can have hundreds of blooms that spread the wealth over several weeks.
How does a cactus, which stores water in its stems, survive the Ohio winters and strings of days with sub-freezing temperatures – antifreeze. Its pads have a special chemical in their cells that serves as nature’s Prestone, and the cactus also reduces the water in its cells with the onset of cold weather. That defensive mechanism allows the Eastern prickly pear cactus to thrive in environments from Montana to Ontario, which many of its thorny cousins would find far too harsh.
Eastern prickly pear cactus (Opuntia humifusa) has an extensive range in North America and it is found from Florida to Massachusetts and west to New Mexico and in most of the plains states.
“Although it is named ‘Eastern prickly pear’ this is the most widespread of all of the cacti in the United States, extending all the way into Texas along with several other species of western prickly pear cacti,” Denny said.
He noted that a western species which is a close relative of the native Ohio prickly pear, Plains prickly pear (Opuntia macrorhiza), has been introduced and become naturalized in a few sites in the southwestern part of the state. “It can be identified by its blueish green color and usually more than two stout spines per cluster,” Denny said.
The most common habitat where you will find Eastern prickly pear in states to the east of Ohio, such as Pennsylvania, is sparsely vegetated shale barrens, Denny said. He added that the fruits of Ohio’s native species of prickly pear, as well as those of larger western species, are called "tuna" and are edible fresh or cooked and also can be used to make a sweet jam.
Since Eastern prickly pear is considered a potentially-threatened plant in Ohio due to its limited and shrinking habitat, and some unfortunate irresponsible digging and collecting from preserves and natural areas, it is best to buy starts or cactus plants from garden centers and leave the wild colonies alone.