Gaylussacia brachycera
box huckleberry, box-leaf whortleberry
persistent;
petiole 0.5–3 mm;
blade pale green abaxially, shiny dark green adaxially, ovate, 1–2.5 × 0.5–1.3 cm, coriaceous, base rounded, margins crenate or serrulate, (revolute), apex obtuse, without resinous dots, surfaces glabrous adaxially, glabrous or puberulent along midvein and near blade base.
spreading, 2–5-flowered, sometimes flowers solitary, ebracteate, 0.5–1 cm, puberulent.
0.5–3 mm, glabrous;
bracteoles (early deciduous), 1–3, (ovate), 2–4 mm, (margins ciliate).
sepals 4–5, 0.3–0.5 mm, glabrous;
petals 4–5, corolla white to pink, campanulate-urceolate, 4 mm, lobes broadly deltate to rounded, 0.5–1.5 mm;
filaments 1–1.5 mm, glabrous;
anthers included, 1–1.5 mm, thecae not divergent distally;
ovary glabrous.
juicy, sweet, light blue, 6–8 mm diam., glabrous.
1–1.5 mm.
Gaylussacia brachycera
Gaylussacia brachycera is a dwarf evergreen shrub that forms large, solid-mat, self-sterile colonies, each one appearing to consist of a single clone that may extend over more than one hectare. One colony in Perry County, Pennsylvania, is about 1.5 kilometers wide; 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.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
MD Biodiversity
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
