CPC National Collection Plant Profile
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CPC National Collection Plant Profile
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Gaylussacia brachycera
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Gaylussacia brachycera is Fully Sponsored |
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Primary
custodian for this plant in the CPC National Collection of Endangered
Plants is: |
Irina Kadis contributed to this Plant Profile. |
| Gaylussacia brachycera | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The box huckleberry is a dwarf (1-4 dm) evergreen shrub that forms large, solid-mat, self-sterile colonies, each one appearing to consist of a single clone that may extend over 8 acres! One colony in Perry county Pennsylvania (the Amity-Hall area) is about a mile long. It appears to be a single clone that is over 12,000 years old, and has been labeled as the oldest living thing in the world. As of 1999, about other 100 sites, containing younger plants than the Perry County population, are known from six states in the eastern United States. Box huckleberry is a rare plant first found by Michaux in West Virginia in 1790, then by Kin and Pursh about 1805 (Coville 1919). In 1921, it was "rediscovered" by A. Gray and this time reported from 75 localities (Gray 1922). The box huckleberry belongs to a rather large genus of the New World embracing over 50 species, most of which occur in mountainous regions of South America. Five are found in the southeastern USA. All Gaylussacia are small shrubs (1-12 dm tall), either evergreen or deciduous, usually with rhizomes (Dirr 1998). G. brachycera is very different from other Gaylussacia species. In other Gaylussacia, leaves are deciduous, mostly entire, glandular, either on both surfaces or just beneath (which makes a difference from Vaccinium); stems not angled (Dirr 1998). In G. brachycera, leaves are evergreen, coriaceous, not resinous-glandular; stems are sharply angled (3-sided), bearing a conspicuous ridge below the base of each leaf.
State Range
Distribution
Number Left
State/Area Protection
Ecological Relationships
Threats
Current Research Summary
Current Management Summary
Research Management Needs
Ex Situ Needs
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References |
Bir, R.E. 1992. Growing and Propagating Showy Native Woody Plants. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press. |
Dirr, M.A. 1998. Manual of Woody Landscape Plants. Champaign, Illinois: Stipes Publishing L. L. C. |
Foote, L.E.; Jones, S.B., Jr. 1994. Native Shrubs and Woody Vines of the Southeast. Oregon: Timber Press. |
Gleason, H.A.; Cronquist, A. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Bronx: The New York Botanical Garden. |
Small, J.K. 1933. Manual of the southeastern flora. New York, NY: Hafner Publishing Company. 1505p. |
Tatnall, R.R. 1946. Flora of Delaware and the Eastern Shore. The Society of Natural History of Delaware. 313p. |
Tucker, A.O.; Dill, N.H.; Broome, C.R.; Phillips, C.E.; Maciarello, M.J. 1979. Rare and endangered vascular plant species in Delaware. Newton Corner, MA: U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. x + 89p. |
Wiegman, P.G. 1979. Rare and Endangered Vascular Plant Species in Pennsylvania. Western Pennsylvania Conservancy in Cooperation with The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. |
Kartesz, J.T. 1999. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the U.S., Canada, and Greenland. In: Kartesz, J.T.; Meacham, C.A., editors. Synthesis of the North American Flora, Version 1.0. North Carolina Botanical Garden. Chapel Hill, NC. |
Coville, F.V. 1919. The threatened extinction of the box huckleberry, Gaylussacia brachycera. Science. 50: 30-34. |
Gray, A. 1846. Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Science, new series. 3: 54. |
Gray, F.W. 1922. Scores of stations for Gaylussacia brachycera in West Virginia. Torreya. 22, 2: 17-18. |
Strausbaugh, P.D. 1960. Rev. Fred W. Gray. Castanea. 25: 131-132. |
Swoger, A. 1980. The venerable Box Huckleberry. Garden. 4, 4: 18-21. |
Uttall, L.J. 1982. The type locality of Gaylussacia brachycera (Michx.) A. Gray. Jeffersonia. 13, 1: 2-3. |
Wherry, E. 1934. The box huckleberry as an illustration of the need for field work. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 61: 81-84. |
Wherry, E.T. 1972. Box-huckleberry as the oldest living protoplasm. Castanea. 37: 94-95. |
Crable, Ad. 1999 August 20, 1999. Meet the World's Oldest - and Hardest Working - Plant. Lancaster New Era, Lancaster Newspapers, Inc.; Lancaster, PA. |
| This profile was updated on 3/4/2010 |