I'm wondering if anyone has ever heard of this, or knows someone who might know more about this. My father received a cactus plant from a friend who told him that it grows wild in the village of Camp Dennison, Ohio, just outside of Cincinnati near the Little Miami river. During the Civil War, Camp Dennison was a military camp (hence the name), and this person told my father that the cactus was brought to the area in the hooves of horses used by the U.S. Cavalry, which originated in the southwest. I don't have any pictures available, but the cactus is clearly an Opuntia species, with pads approximately 4-5 inches wide and 6 inches long. The flowers are a bright yellow, and I'm unsure if there have been any fruit produced. I'm interested to know if this story is known in any horticultural circles, and what species this cactus might be. I will post pictures soon.
You might want to contact the Krohn Conservatory in Cincinnati. They have an indoor cactus garden. http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/cityparks/pages/-3452-/ http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/cityparks/pages/-4575-/ I'd love to know what you find out. Newt
From Vivian Wagner at the Krohn Conservatory: I checked some pictures of this species online, and it's a match. Still, I wonder if this makes improbable the Civil War origins of the plant I received.
Thanks so very much for the update!! I'm so glad they responded to you. One never knows about the history of plants and pass alongs, but it could just be that it was growing there since then. Nice to think of it that way. Newt
I don't know what kind of soil you have around you, but O. humifusa grows wild north of you too in the sandy soil around the Great Lakes region. It grows wild in the area I live in. I have seen it growing in hills of pure sand. I have also seen it growing among other plants, including turf grasses, in sandier soil. It doesn't seem to be doing as well in those situations. There is a section of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore near me that has large areas of O. humifusa, kinnikinik, dune grasses and black oak all growing togethor.
