
The box huckleberry of Perry County has many characteristics similar to the blueberry.
The box huckleberry belongs to the Ericaceae family. The Ericaceae family is comprised mostly of acid-loving plants found in the temperate zone. Better-known Ericaceae family members include the cranberry, blueberry, azalea, and rhododendron. Because the box huckleberry is a close relative of the blueberry, it has some similar characteristics as the better-known shrub.

The Box Huckleberry colony covers the forest floor thickly over a great area.
The box huckleberry grows in two different locations on the eastern side of rural Perry County, covering several ridges. One colony grows in Losh Run, alongside the Juniata River near Route 322/22. The other colony is protected within the Hoverter & Sholl Box Huckleberry Natural Area in the Tuscarora State Forest, several miles outside the county seat of New Bloomfield.
Of course, the box huckleberry did not grow to be so big overnight. The Losh Run plant’s age is thought to be around 13,000 years old--far older than the giant sequoias. This box huckleberry is even older than the bristlecone pines which, at 5000 years old, are often thought to be the oldest living organisms on earth. While not as old as the Losh Run plant, the younger colony in the Hoverter & Sholl Box Huckleberry Natural Area is well on its way to a great age at 1300 years. The box huckleberry is definitely ancient, and is even thought to be a survivor of the last ice age.

Box Huckleberry flowers, unlike those of most blooming plants, are seldom used for sexual reproduction.
The box huckleberry was first discovered in Virginia in 1796 by Andre Michaux. This newly discovered plant soon perished, and the box huckleberry was not seen in the United States again until its rediscovery in 1846, this time in Pennsylvania. The plant was found in Perry County by Professor Spencer F. Baird of Dickinson College. Baird, a young naturalist, stumbled across the colony near New Bloomfield. The significance of the plant was not known until research was done on the plant some years later.
Fredrick Coville was—and still is—one of the most famous of the researchers of the box huckleberry. Coville graduated from Cornell University in 1887 with a degree in botany and worked for the Department of Agriculture. His work with the box huckleberry started in the early 1900s. In 1919, Fredrick Coville theorized that the box huckleberry was one massive plant connected by rhizomes, saying, “The theory I advance is that the whole patch has spread by the root from a single plant. If this theory is correct, the plant is undoubtedly more than a thousand years old.”

A mass of fruit ripens on the box huckleberry stems. By most accounts, however, they are not as tasty as their cousins, the blueberry or the cranberry.
When foresters determine the age of a tree, they simply count the rings in the trunk. Determining the age of a shrub is more difficult than counting rings, but it is possible. By determining the growth rate of the rhizomes and the plant’s size, the age can be calculated. Botanists determined the rhizomes from the box huckleberry grow at rate of 6 inches per year. By using the total length of the plant colony and the rate of growth per year, Coville determined the box huckleberry to be 1300 years old.

The Losh Run box huckleberry plant is thought to be as much as 13,000 years old. Though damaged in the 1970s, areas of the original plant still survive, as on this hillside.
Because the box huckleberry has limited reproduction, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) has classified it as a threatened species. The DCNR defines “threatened” as “Species that may become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout their range in Pennsylvania.” While this classification is not as severe as endangered, it still provides protection to the box huckleberry. In 1967, the box huckleberry colony outside New Bloomfield was designated a National Natural Landmark. [Insert figure 4] This status, along with state forest rules and regulations, protect the plant by prohibiting anyone from collecting or taking it from the area. Furthermore, future road construction is unlikely to damage the Losh Run plant because the plant is listed as threatened.
The box huckleberry is not just confined to Pennsylvania. Many younger colonies exist in other Appalachian states. Box huckleberry colonies can be found in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. In fact, a colony was recently discovered in 2003 in North Carolina by Stefan Bloodworth. This is startling to researchers because the plants rarely reproduce through seeds, though it is possible that a seed became fertilized and was carried away by an animal, thus starting this new colony.

Pennsylvania has declared an area of the Tuscarora State Forest a protected area for the Box Huckleberry so incidents like that at Losh Run will not be repeated.
Despite its lack of worldwide fame, the people of Perry County take great pride in the box huckleberry. Every New Year’s Eve, a giant, sparkly blue, papier-mâché huckleberry is dropped from the top of the court house in New Bloomfield. The tradition was started by Dale Beaston in 1994, because, as he told The Patriot-News, “Nothing was really going on in town here... We put it up and it went over big. It was nice and it’s just kept going like that. It’s a nice thing. The town responds well to it.” Hundreds of locals gather each year to celebrate the New Year and the box huckleberry.

The National Park Service declared the Box Huckleberry site of Perry County a Natural Landmark in 1967.
The Center would like to thank Will Cook, John Styers, wildeherb.com, and Terry Howes' Encyclopedia of Edible Wild Plants of North America at Picasaweb.google.com for their assistance in illustrating this article.
Sources:
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