Berried Treasure Box Huckleberry - Gaylussacia - Blueberry Like Fruit - 2.5" Pot

Box Huckleberry. This now rare in the wild blueberry relative is a choice little shrub that is notable on multiple counts. Compact habit to a foot or more tall and slowly spreading by rhizomes, this has good glossy evergreen leaves turning bronzy in winter with small whitish urn-shaped flowers giving way to edible blue berries. A relict species nearly exterminated by the last ice age, box huckleberry is found in isolated colonies which reproduce clonally by extending roots. One colony in Pennsylvania was once estimated to be as many as 13,000 years old; more recent estimates have an upper bound of about 8,000 years, which would make it the oldest woody plant east of the Rocky Mountains. Another colony in Pennsylvania, about 1,300 years old, has been protected by the Hoverter and Sholl Box Huckleberry Natural Area.

• Blueberry relative. Blueberry like fruit
• Hardy in zones 5-9
• Prefers part-sun
• Blooms in May and June followed by delicious berries
• Immediate shipping