U.S. National Arboretum Collection Cherry Tree Files

Roland Maurice Jefferson was born in Washington, D.C. on September 3, 1923. In 1950, he earned a bachelor's degree in botany from Howard University and started labeling plants at the United States National Arboretum (USNA) in 1956. The next year, Jefferson was promoted to botanist at the USNA, and was the first African-American to hold that position. Over the next decade, Jefferson studied crabapples. In 1973, he began compiling historical and scientific data about the Japanese cherry trees planted in Washington, D.C.'s Potomac Park, which included taking cuttings from the surviving trees. In 1977, he published "The Japanese flowering cherry trees of Washington, D.C.," which was later translated into Japanese. From 1978 to 1979, he joined a plant expedition in Europe to study cherry and crabapple trees. In 1981, a tree that Jefferson propagated from one that First Lady Helen Taft planted in 1912 was presented as a gift to Japan by First Lady Nancy Reagan. From 1981 to 1983, Jefferson went to Japan to study, lecture, locate, evaluate, and collect germplasm from ornamental cherry trees. He operated the dogwood seed exchange program from 1982 to 1983, in which Japanese school children collected cherry seeds to exchange for dogwood seeds collected in America. In 1983, he married Keiko Ishisaki. In 1986, Jefferson led expeditions into Japan, Korea, and Taiwan to study cherry trees. He retired from the USNA in 1987, but continued to lecture on Japanese cherry trees through 1998.

Roland Maurice Jefferson (1923-) was born on September 3, 1923 in Washington, D.C. to Edward Wilson Jefferson and Bernice Cornelia Bond. After serving in the Army Air Corps during World War II, he attended Howard University under the G.I. Bill of Rights, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act. Jefferson graduated in 1950 with a bachelor of science in botany, and from 1951-1952 he pursued graduate studies at Howard. In 1956 he began work making plant labels at the United States National Arboretum (USNA), where he developed an inexpensive method for creating extremely durable photographically-processed metal labels. He was promoted in 1957 and became the first African American botanist at the USNA.

Recognizing that many crabapple plants were misidentified or misnamed, Jefferson spent the next decade studying and publishing on the crabapples in the USNA's collection. This work culminated in the 1970 publication of History, Progeny, and Locations of Crabapples of Documented Authentic Origin, in which he supplied the locations of 182 living crabapple species, varieties, and cultivars and furnished historical and genealogical data pertaining to this material. As a by-product of this research, Jefferson named and introduced a new cultivar, Malus sieboldii 'Fuji,' into cultivation.

In 1973, Jefferson began to compile historical and scientific data about the Japanese cherry trees planted in 1912 in Washington, D.C.'s Potomac Park. The USNA published his work in 1977 as The Japanese Flowering Cherry Trees of Washington, D.C.: A Living Symbol of Friendship which was later translated into Japanese.

Jefferson saw during his research that many of the surviving 1912 Japanese cherries were aged and dying. To save this original cherry stock, from 1976-1979 he took cuttings to be propagated at the USNA. In 1981, the Arboretum gave Japan 3,000 cuttings from the 1912 trees to replace lost Japanese parent stock. First Lady Nancy Reagan presented the Japanese ambassador with the President Reagan Cherry Tree, which Jefferson had propagated from the commemorative tree planted by First Lady Helen Herron Taft in 1912.

Jefferson undertook several expeditions to study ornamental trees and collect germplasm. In 1978 and 1979, he traveled to Holland, England, and Germany to study cherry and crabapple trees. From 1981-1983, he visited Japan several times to locate, study, and collect seeds and budwood from cherry trees. Concerned that he would not be able to collect enough of the seeds himself before they were carried off by birds and other animals, Jefferson enlisted the help of Japanese schoolchildren. He began a seed exchange program in which children in Japan collected cherry seeds in exchange for dogwood seeds collected by American children. In 1986, Jefferson led expeditions into Japan, Korea, and Taiwan to collect additional cherry seeds.

After retiring from the USNA in 1987, Jefferson continued to work to preserve cherry tree germplasm and to establish cherries throughout the United States. In 1995, he gave a lecture in Japan on the deteriorating condition of the original 1912 cherry trees in Potomac Park. Subsequent newspaper coverage of the issue prompted the National Park Service (NPS) to take action to preserve the genetic heritage of those trees. The USNA took cuttings, and at a ceremony in 1999 it presented the NPS with 500 propagated replacements for the dying cherries.

Jefferson also continued his correspondence with and assistance to the Normandale Japanese Garden at Normandale Community College in Minnesota. In 1984, the USNA provided the garden with cherry seedlings grown from seed that Jefferson collected in 1982 from a tree in Hokkaido, Japan. Throughout the 2000s, Normandale staff worked to introduce this hardy cherry into the nursery trade for planting in colder parts of the United States.

As of February 2012, Jefferson resides in Honolulu, Hawaii with his wife Keiko Ishisaki, whom he married in 1983.