Hoverter and Sholl Box Huckleberry Natural Area

Hoverter and Sholl Box Huckleberry Natural Area
Map of Pennsylvania
Location	Perry County, Pennsylvania
Nearest city	New Bloomfield
Coordinates	40°24′22″N 77°10′26″W / 40.40611°N 77.17389°W / 40.40611; -77.17389Coordinates: 40°24′22″N 77°10′26″W / 40.40611°N 77.17389°W / 40.40611; -77.17389
Area	10 acres (4.0 ha)

U.S. National Natural Landmark
Designated	1967

Hoverter and Sholl Box Huckleberry Natural Area is a 10-acre (4.0 ha) natural area in Perry County, Pennsylvania, near New Bloomfield, which protects a colony of box huckleberry over 1,000 years old.^[1]^[2] The smallest Natural Area in Pennsylvania,^[3] it is administered as part of Tuscarora State Forest.^[2] It was designated a National Natural Landmark in April 1967.^[4]

Topography

A 0.25-mile (0.40 km) path forms a loop around the site, which is located on the west side of a hill slope.^[3] Twenty-seven interpretive stations are located along the trail.^[1] 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.^[3]

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^[5] to 1,300 years old,^[1] only a tenth of the estimated age for a nearby colony at Losh Run.^[6] The colony was discovered by Spencer Baird in 1845.^[7] No specimens of box huckleberry had been collected since 1805, and Baird's discovery allowed Asa Gray to classify the species as Gaylussacia brachycera.^[8] The resulting correspondence sparked a lifelong friendship between the two, and helped Baird attain a post at the Smithsonian Institution.^[5]

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.^[5] Renewed interest sparked the discovery of other box huckleberry colonies elsewhere in the Appalachians.^[9]

The New Bloomfield site was first protected with the donation of 4 acres (1.6 ha) to the state in 1929, the beginning of the Natural Area.^[3]

References

1 2 3 Crable, Ad (1999-08-20). "Meet The World's Oldest--and Hardest Working--Plant". Lancaster New Era. Retrieved 2008-06-22.
1 2 "Tuscarora State Forest Natural Areas". Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Retrieved 2008-08-13.
1 2 3 4 Fergus, Charles; Rae, Rusty (January 2002). Natural Pennsylvania: Exploring the State Forest Natural Areas. Stackpole Books. p. 48. ISBN 978-0-8117-2038-0.
↑ "Box Huckleberry Site". nps.gov. National Park Service.
1 2 3 Coville, Frederick V. (1919-07-11). "The Threatened Extinction of the Box Huckleberry, Gaylussacia brachycera". Science 50 (1280): 30–34. doi:10.1126/science.50.1280.30. JSTOR 1641999. PMID 17801660.
↑ Wherry, Edgar T. (June 1972). "Box-Huckleberry as the Oldest Living Protoplasm". Castanea (Southern Appalachian Botanical Society) 37 (2): 94–95. JSTOR 4032456.
↑ Smith, Hazel; Smith, Don (June 1971). "The Box Huckleberry, Gaylussacia brachycera". Castanea (Southern Appalachian Botanical Society) 36 (2): 81–89. JSTOR 4032308.
↑ Pooler, Margaret; Nicholson, Rob; Vandegrift, Andrew (2008). "Clonal Fidelity in Large Colonies of Gaylussacia brachycera Gray (Box Huckleberry) Assessed by DNA Fingerprinting". Northeastern Naturalist 15: 67. doi:10.1656/1092-6194(2008)15[67:CFILCO]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 1092-6194. Retrieved 2008-06-21.
↑ Wherry, Edgar T. (February 1934). "The box huckleberry as an illustration of the need for fieldwork". Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club (Torrey Botanical Society) 61 (2): 81–84. doi:10.2307/2480787. JSTOR 2480787.

External links

Natural & Wild Areas of the Tuscarora State Forest, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

Protected areas of Pennsylvania

Federal

NPS National Historical Parks & National Historic Sites	Allegheny Portage Railroad NHS Edgar Allan Poe NHS Eisenhower NHS Friendship Hill NHS Gloria Dei (Old Swedes') Church NHS Hopewell Furnace NHS Independence NHP Steamtown NHS Valley Forge NHP

National Memorials	Benjamin Franklin Flight 93 Johnstown Flood Thaddeus Kosciuszko

National Battlefields and National Military Parks	Fort Necessity NB Gettysburg NMP

National Trails	Appalachian Trail

Other protected areas	Allegheny National Recreation Area Blue Marsh National Recreation Area Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area Lackawanna Heritage Valley National and State Heritage Area Middle Delaware National Scenic River Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River

National Forests	Allegheny

USFS National Historic Sites	Grey Towers

National Wildlife Refuges	Cherry Valley Erie John Heinz Ohio River Islands

State

State Parks	Allegheny Islands Archbald Pothole Bald Eagle Beltzville Bendigo Benjamin Rush Big Pocono Big Spring Black Moshannon Blue Knob Boyd Big Tree Buchanan's Birthplace Bucktail Caledonia Canoe Creek Chapman Cherry Springs Clear Creek Codorus Colonel Denning Colton Point Cook Forest Cowans Gap Delaware Canal Denton Hill Elk Erie Bluffs Evansburg Fort Washington Fowlers Hollow Frances Slocum French Creek Gifford Pinchot Gouldsboro Greenwood Furnace Hickory Run Hillman Hills Creek Hyner Run Hyner View Jacobsburg Jennings Joseph E. Ibberson Kettle Creek Keystone Kings Gap Kinzua Bridge Kooser Lackawanna Laurel Hill Laurel Mountain Laurel Ridge Laurel Summit Lehigh Gorge Leonard Harrison Linn Run Little Buffalo Little Pine Locust Lake Lyman Run Marsh Creek Maurice K. Goddard McCalls Dam McConnells Mill Memorial Lake Milton Mont Alto Moraine Mt. Pisgah Nescopeck Neshaminy Nockamixon Nolde Forest Norristown Farm Ohiopyle Oil Creek Ole Bull Parker Dam Patterson Penn-Roosevelt Pine Grove Furnace Poe Paddy Poe Valley Point Presque Isle Prince Gallitzin Promised Land Prompton Prouty Place Pymatuning R. B. Winter Raccoon Creek Ralph Stover Ravensburg Reeds Gap Ricketts Glen Ridley Creek Ryerson Station S. B. Elliott Salt Springs Samuel S. Lewis Sand Bridge Shawnee Shikellamy Sinnemahoning Sizerville Susquehanna Susquehannock Swatara Tobyhanna Trough Creek Tuscarora Tyler Upper Pine Bottom Varden Warriors Path Washington Crossing Whipple Dam White Clay Creek Worlds End Yellow Creek

State Forests	Bald Eagle Buchanan Clear Creek Cornplanter Delaware Elk Forbes Gallitzin Lackawanna Loyalsock Michaux Moshannon Rothrock Sproul Susquehannock Tiadaghton Tioga Tuscarora Weiser William Penn (Wild areas)

Scenic Rivers	Bear Run French Creek Lehigh River LeTort Spring Run Lick Run Lower Brandywine Octoraro Creek Pine Creek Schuylkill River Stony Creek Tucquan Creek Tulpehocken Creek Yellow Breeches Creek

Other

Other	Anders Run Natural Area Forrest H. Duttlinger Natural Area Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Hoverter and Sholl Box Huckleberry Natural Area Johnson Run Natural Area Stone Valley Recreation Area Trexler Nature Preserve Wykoff Run Natural Area

Hiking trails	Appalachian Baker Black Forest Central Mountains Shared Use Darlington Eastern Continental Five Star Glacier Ridge Great Eastern Greene River Horse-Shoe Indian Creek Valley Loyalsock Mid State Standing Stone Mason-Dixon North Country Ohio River Old Loggers Path Pinchot Potomac Heritage Quehanna Rachel Carson Sheepskin Susquehannock Thunder Swamp Tuscarora Valley Forge Historical West Rim Wissahickon Youghiogheny River

Rail trails	Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike Beaver River East Coast Greenway Five Star Ghost Town Great Allegheny Passage Great Shamokin Path Greene River Indian Creek Valley Lebanon Valley Lehigh Gorge Liberty Bell Lower Montour Ohio River Palmer Bikeway Panhandle Perkiomen Pine Creek Plainfield Township Schuylkill River Sheepskin Struble Susquehanna Warrior Switchback Three Rivers Heritage York Country Heritage Youghiogheny River

Nature centers	List of nature centers in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

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