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]
^Wherry, Edgar T. (June 1972). "Box-Huckleberry as the Oldest Living Protoplasm". Castanea. 37 (2). Southern Appalachian Botanical Society: 94–95. JSTOR4032456.
^Smith, Hazel; Smith, Don (June 1971). "The Box Huckleberry, Gaylussacia brachycera". Castanea. 36 (2). Southern Appalachian Botanical Society: 81–89. JSTOR4032308.
^Wherry, Edgar T. (February 1934). "The box huckleberry as an illustration of the need for fieldwork". Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 61 (2). Torrey Botanical Society: 81–84. doi:10.2307/2480787. JSTOR2480787.
