Editing Eastern Prickly Pear (section)

===== Substrate Salinity & Salt Spray =====

Because coastal colonies of ''O. humifusa'' grow upon habitat which may possess exceptionally high levels of dissolved salts (as well as be subject to occasional flooding by saltwater), it is of interest to explore how coastal specimens deal with excess salts.  It has been observed that colonies of ''O. humifusa'' living in the immediate vicinity of the seashore "accumulated more Na<sup>+</sup> in their cladodes and appeared to be better adapted to aerial salt spray as well as episodal high salinity in the root medium than inland individuals".<ref name="salinity">Läuchli, André, and Ulrich Lüttge. ''Salinity: Environment - Plants - Molecules''. Springer, 2002. 342. Print.<http://books.google.com/books?id=eZzqw9HUbW8C&pg=PA342&dq=humifusa+cactus&hl=en&sa=X&ei=cwDFT6upJ7PJsQK5xsHgCQ&ved=0CEoQ6AEwAzgy#v=onepage&q=humifusa%20cactus&f=false></ref>  Thus, ''O. humifusa'' is accommodating of high-salinity, even developing certain tolerances to high levels of dissolved salts which aren't possessed by cacti of the same species from inland colonies.