OBRART 

 NEW YORK 

 BOTANICAI 



Vol. 22 No. 2 



March-April, 1922 



TORREYA 



SCORES OF STATIONS FOR GAYLUSSACIA 

 BRACHYCERA IN WEST VIRGINIA.* 



BY FRED W. GRAY 



One evening about the middle of June 1921, while eating 

 supper at the home of Dr. George W. Van Stavern in Dorr, 

 W. Va., the conversation turned to good things to eat. He asked 

 if I had ever eaten "Juniper" pie. I had to confess complete 

 ignorance as to what he meant, but when he had described it 

 as a blue berry more acid than the common "huckleberry" on 

 pretty green bushes, I suspected that it might be the box huckle- 

 berry, Gaylussacia brachycera. The next day I went down the 

 road below his house and sure enough there it was beside the 

 "public road." I gathered a few specimens and sent one to 

 Mr. E. T. Wherry of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



In a few days I set to work by items in the local papers and 

 by personal correspondence to try and determine the extent 

 of the occurrence of Gaylussacia brachycera in this section. By 

 August 8th about 75 different stations had been reported. This 

 could never have been done without the common name "Juniper 

 Berry." This is the only name I have been able to find for this 

 plant, although other plants are also called "Junipers," — e, g, 

 Vaccinium Pennsylvanicum is called "Sweet Juniper" because 

 the berries are sweeter and ripen about the same time as G. 

 brachycera. 



On August 8th Mr. Wherry arrived and we went over the 

 territory together for five days. In all, at that time and before 

 and since, I have visited about forty stations in three counties, 

 Greenbrier, Monroe and Summers. I have reports of occurrences 

 in Raleigh and Pocohontas Counties in West Virginia and in some 

 of the bordering counties in Virginia. 



*In the May, June 192 1 issue of Torreya (Vol. 21, page 53) is recorded a re- 

 ference to the three known s.ations for the box huckleberry. 



17 



