Hoverter and Sholl Box Huckleberry Natural Area

Hoverter and Sholl Box Huckleberry Natural Area is a convert|10|acre|ha|adj=on natural area in Perry County, Pennsylvania, near New Bloomfield, which protects a colony of box huckleberry over 1,000 years old.cite web | title=Tuscarora State Forest Natural Areas | publisher=Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources | url=http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/FORESTRY/stateforests/tuscwild.aspx | accessdate=2008-08-13] The smallest Natural Area in Pennsylvania, it is administered as part of Tuscarora State Forest.

Topography

A convert|0.25|mi|km|adj=on path forms a loop around the site, which is located on the west side of a hill slope. Twenty-seven interpretive stations are located along the trail. In addition to the low growth of the box huckleberry itself, the hillside is covered with white pine and oak forest, with a scattering of other trees and various wildflowers.

History

The specimen of box huckleberry at the natural area has been estimated, based on its observed rate of growth and clonal reproduction, to be 1,200 to 1,300 years oldcite news | title=Meet The World's Oldest--and Hardest Working--Plant | first=Ad | last=Crable | date=1999-08-20 | publisher=Lancaster New Era | url=http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/polycomm/pressrel/crable/crable082099.htm
accessdate=2008-06-22] , only a tenth of the estimated age for a nearby colony at Losh Run.cite journal | title=Box-Huckleberry as the Oldest Living Protoplasm | first=Edgar T. | last=Wherry | journal=Castanea | volume=37 | issue=2 | year=1972 | month=June | pages=94–95 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/4032456 | accessdate=2008-06-24] The colony was discovered by Spencer Baird in 1845.cite journal | title=The Box Huckleberry, Gaylussacia brachycera | first=Hazel | last=Smith | coauthors=Don Smith | journal=Castanea | volume=36 | issue=2 | year=1971 | month=June | pages=81–89 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/4032308 | accessdate=2008-06-21] No specimens of box huckleberry had been collected since 1805, and Baird's discovery allowed Asa Gray to classify the species as "Gaylussacia brachycera".cite journal | title=Clonal Fidelity in Large Colonies of Gaylussacia brachycera Gray (Box Huckleberry) Assessed by DNA Fingerprinting | first=Margaret | last=Pooler | coauthors=Rob Nicholson, Andrew Vandegrift | journal=Northeastern Naturalist | year=2008 | url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3845/is_200801/ai_n25419440/pg_1 | accessdate=2008-06-21] The resulting correspondence sparked a lifelong friendship between the two, and helped Baird attain a post at the Smithsonian Institution.cite journal | first=Frederick V. | last=Coville | title=The Threatened Extinction of the Box Huckleberry, Gaylussacia brachycera | journal=Science | volume=50 | issue=1280 | date=1919-07-11 | pages=30–34 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/1641999 | accessdate=2008-06-21]

The box huckleberry remained largely obscure until 1918, when Frederick V. Coville examined the site. On the basis of his observations there, he concluded that box huckleberry was self-sterile and spread clonally. After commercial nurserymen removed a truckload of plants from the site, Coville called attention to its plight with an article in "Science". Renewed interest sparked the discovery of other box huckleberry colonies elsewhere in the Appalachians.cite journal | title=The box huckleberry as an illustration of the need for fieldwork | first=Edgar T. | last=Wherry | journal=Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club | volume=61 | issue=2 | year=1934 | month=February | pages=81–84 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/2480787 | accessdate=2008-06-21]

The New Bloomfield site was first protected with the donation of convert|4|acre|ha to the state in 1929, the beginning of the Natural Area.cite book | title=Natural Pennsylvania: Exploring the State Forest Natural Areas | first=Charles | last=Fergus | coauthors=Rusty Rae | page=48 | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=E9PJxejJsigC&pg=PA48 | accessdate=2008-06-22] The site was further declared a National Natural Landmark in 1967.

References