Editing Eastern Prickly Pear (section)

==== Status and Description ====

[[File:Short-beach-colony-opuntia.jpg|thumb|One of many individual cacti in the '''Short Beach Colony''', found at Short Beach Park in Stratford, CT]]My field exploration of Stratford's Short Beach Park has revealed a large colony of ''Opuntia humifusa'' growing on dry, sandy scrubland behind the sand beach.  Despite being little-known throughout the state, this colony is probably rather well-known to those Stratford residents that frequent the park since it is easily accessed from high-traffic beach areas.

The Short Beach Colony contains specimens that are spread throughout an acre (or more) of land, with most specimens being at least 15 to 20 feet apart.  I counted a total of 14 ''O. humifusa'' specimens: four (4) large specimens, five (5) small specimens and five (5) specimens of intermediate size.  Although there is always some measure of inaccuracy with these counts, owing to the clonal growth habits of ''O. humifusa'', this count is rather thorough.

Interestingly, there did not seem to be any significant clonal clusters at all, a finding which is congruent with the Milford Point Colony and which contrasts sharply with colony structures found on inland ridges.  Although I did count four "large" ''O. humifusa'' specimens at Short Beach, these were relatively tall plants which, unlike clonal colonies that I've observed, still maintained a tight, individual structure with a discernible basal center.

The habitat area at Short Beach is exceptionally similar to the habitat area at Milford Point.  At both of these habitat areas, the ''O. humifusa'' specimens are interspersed amongst dune shrubs and low-growing herbaceous plants along with a few coniferous trees, though the Short Beach habitat exhibited a lower density of coniferous trees and higher density of shrubs than the Milford Point habitat.  Also congruent with Milford Point, ''O. humifusa'' did not seem to have a preference for any particular margin from larger shrubs; some specimens were found growing right at the base of shrubs, while others were found in more open, exposed areas amongst sparse, low-growing herbaceous plants.

The Short Beach Colony exhibited a similarly high diversity of associated plant life as the Milford Point Colony.  At least one of those herbaceous associates was ''Toxicodendron radicans'' (Poison Ivy), which was exceptionally prevalent.  However, because ''T. radicans'' can be found in a wide range of habitats where there are no cacti, it cannot yet be considered anything more than an incidental associate (that is, I do not yet consider ''T. radicans'' to be a useful indicator species).