A genus of shrubs in the heather family, native to North and South America, producing small berries similar to blueberries.
Named after French botanist and chemist Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac (1778-1850), who made major contributions to chemistry and physics. The -acia suffix is Latin, indicating a genus name.
This is one of thousands of plants and animals named after scientists—Gay-Lussac was an absolutely brilliant chemist who discovered boron and worked on gas laws, and getting a whole genus named after you is one of science's highest honors. Every time someone identifies a gaylussacia berry, Gay-Lussac gets a small immortality.
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