Editing Eastern Prickly Pear (section)

==== Exploration ====

A preliminary examination of satellite imagery of West Rock Ridge revealed several areas along the southern end of the park where habitat suitable for ''O. humifusa'' potentially existed.  Because the southern end of the ridge has a greater concentration of areas that aren't covered with thick forest, my earliest exploration focused on this region.  Exploration of the northern end of the ridge was conducted later after the discovery of Hornak's ''O. humifusa'' photograph.

===== April 28, 2012 =====

I conducted a field exploration of the southern half of West Rock Ridge State Park on April 28, 2012, during which I carefully investigated all of the target areas in that region that were identified in my preliminary studies of satellite imagery.  This entailed a hike of approximately 3.08 miles and the route variously included hiking on foot trails and along the park road.  Extensive bush-whacking was required in order to explore all of the target locations, many of which were between 20 and 100 feet off of the road or established trails.

Target areas of exploration primarily included west-facing and south-facing ledges along the precipices of the southern half of West Rock Ridge.  Most of these areas were devoid of trees or, at least, very sparsely forested.  A thorough investigation of these target areas revealed no presence of ''Opuntia humifusa''.

However, I did succeed in locating a healthy colony of cacti in an area which was not within my original list of target areas.  The colony was located on a relatively small clearing within the forest towards the interior of the ridge.  This clearing consisted of an isolated, slightly elevated dome of exposed bedrock which enjoyed full sunlight and supported a bare minimum of herbaceous plants.  The colony included one large clonal cluster of cacti as well as a number of individual cacti along the outer perimeter of the clearing which were at various stages of maturation.

===== May 5, 2012 =====

A second field exploration was conducted on May 5, 2012 and involved an investigation of approximately 1.09 miles on the far northern extent of West Rock Ridge in Hamden, Connecticut.  This exploration revealed several areas, some quite large, where bedrock was exposed at the surface and there was a bare minimum of tree growth.  However, most of these "obvious" areas yielded no findings.  Eventually, I ventured to the steep, terraced precipices on the eastern side of the ridge and succeeded in discovering a large clonal colony of ''O. humifusa''.  I quickly noticed that this uppermost cluster was only the tip of the iceberg, as further clonal clusters could be seen growing on several lower ledges descending the face of the ridge.

After thoroughly documenting this colony, I began moving northwards and checking similar habitat for the presence of another colony.  I succeeded in discovering another colony approximately 200 feet further north of the first.  This colony shared a similar character with the nearby find, where a several clonal clusters could be found on successively lower-elevation ledges.