Cherry Blossom Time

The original Yoshino cherry trees that Japan gave the United States as a token of friendship in 1912 slowly are dying out, with just 125 of those first 3,000 remaining in Washington, D.C. But scientists at the National Arboretum have figured out a way to maintain the legacy of the Japanese gifts. They spent six months performing DNA fingerprinting to identify the original trees from the other cherry trees that have been planted over the years. Cuttings taken from the originals then were used to grow saplings. “They are exact cloned replicas,” said scientist Margaret Pooler. On Wednesday, Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman presented 500 2-year-old saplings grown from the original trees that will be planted among the more than 3,700 cherry trees encircling the Tidal Basin near the Jefferson Memorial and lining the grounds of the Washington Monument.