in reply to Closures and scope of lexicals

That's textbook closure behavior. The reference is stored in the (scratch)pad of the sub.

Compare PadWalker

A closure is a sub plus the variables in the enclosing "hull" at point of definition.

Another good reference is Higher Order Perl

Cheers Rolf
(addicted to the Perl Programming Language :)
see Wikisyntax for the Monastery

In Section Seekers of Perl Wisdom