. The Canadian field-naturalist. 2000 Staniforth and Frego: Disjunct Cactus in Eastern Ontario 101 the Kaladar site in 1995 (Table 2); however, this argument hinges around the interpretation and defi- nition of what constitutes a "western grassland species". Beschel (1967b) hsted 13 "species of dis- tinctly western or southern affinity" and a skink (Eumeces fasciatus) at Kaladar to support this hypothesis. On the other hand, Scoggan (1978) clas- sified 12 of Beschel's 13 "western/southern" species as either eastern ("EE"; Lechea intermedia, Panicum
. The Canadian field-naturalist. 2000 Staniforth and Frego: Disjunct Cactus in Eastern Ontario 101 the Kaladar site in 1995 (Table 2); however, this argument hinges around the interpretation and defi- nition of what constitutes a "western grassland species". Beschel (1967b) hsted 13 "species of dis- tinctly western or southern affinity" and a skink (Eumeces fasciatus) at Kaladar to support this hypothesis. On the other hand, Scoggan (1978) clas- sified 12 of Beschel's 13 "western/southern" species as either eastern ("EE"; Lechea intermedia, Panicum bicknellii, Penstemon hirsutus, Viola fim- briatula, Woljfia Columbiana, Wolffia punctata) or transcontinental ("X"; ''Aster ptarmicoides", Dracocephalum parviflorum, Hedeoma hispida, Potentilla arguta, Rhus radicans, Silene antirrina). The thirteenth species is O. fragilis which he classi- fies as western ("WW"). The local occurrence of the Five-lined Skink does not represent part of an ancient western grassland fauna as it too has an east- ern North American distribution (see Cook 1984; Weller and Oldham 1986 for Ontario, and references in these for North America). Although a "prairie peninsula" and oak savannas once extended into southern Ontario from central North America during the mid Holocene (Transeau 1935; Schmidt 1938; Bartlein et al 1980; Szeicz and MacDonald 1991), they now persist in Ontario only as isolated remnants (Roberts et al 1977; Reznicek and Maycock 1983; Catling et al 1992; Catling and Catling 1993) and Opuntia fragilis is not known from these areas. Perhaps the most plausible origin hypothesis is that the species has been introduced in recent times (, in the last 100 years) by people who like to grow exotic or curiosity plants around homes or cottages in the vicinity of Mellon Lake. Opuntia fragilis is a species that has received a lot of attention from gar- deners and other enthusiasts of unusual plants (Hanco
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