Hoverter and Sholl Box Huckleberry Natural Area

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.

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 old,{{cite 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

|access-date=2008-06-22

|url-status=dead

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529054831/http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/polycomm/pressrel/crable/crable082099.htm

|archive-date=2008-05-29

}} 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 | author-link=Edgar Theodore Wherry | journal=Castanea | volume=37 | issue=2 |date=June 1972 | pages=94–95 | jstor=4032456 | publisher=Southern Appalachian Botanical Society}} The colony was discovered by Spencer Baird in 1845.{{cite journal | title=The Box Huckleberry, Gaylussacia brachycera | first1=Hazel | last1=Smith | first2=Don | last2=Smith | journal=Castanea | volume=36 | issue=2 |date=June 1971 | pages=81–89 | jstor=4032308 | publisher=Southern Appalachian Botanical Society}} 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 | first1=Margaret | last1=Pooler | first2=Rob | last2=Nicholson | first3=Andrew | last3=Vandegrift | journal=Northeastern Naturalist | year=2008 | url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3845/is_200801/ai_n25419440/pg_1 | access-date=2008-06-21 | doi=10.1656/1092-6194(2008)15[67:CFILCO]2.0.CO;2 | volume=15 | pages=67–74 | issn=1092-6194}} 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 | author-link=Frederick Vernon Coville | title=The Threatened Extinction of the Box Huckleberry, Gaylussacia brachycera | journal=Science | volume=50 | issue=1280 | date=1919-07-11 | pages=30–34 | jstor=1641999 | doi=10.1126/science.50.1280.30 | pmid=17801660 | url=https://zenodo.org/record/1448229 | access-date=2019-07-06 | archive-date=2021-05-09 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509172345/https://zenodo.org/record/1448229 | url-status=live }}

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 | author-link=Edgar Theodore Wherry | journal=Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club | volume=61 | issue=2 |date=February 1934 | pages=81–84 | doi=10.2307/2480787 | jstor=2480787 | publisher=Torrey Botanical Society}}

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 | first1=Charles | last1=Fergus | first2=Rusty | last2=Rae | page=48 | publisher=Stackpole Books | isbn=978-0-8117-2038-0 | date=January 2002}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20040226043034/http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/stateforests/tuscwild.aspx Natural & Wild Areas of the Tuscarora State Forest], Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

{{Protected Areas of Pennsylvania}}

{{National Natural Landmarks in Pennsylvania}}

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Category:National Natural Landmarks in Pennsylvania

Category:Protected areas of Perry County, Pennsylvania

Category:Protected areas established in 1967

Category:1967 establishments in Pennsylvania