First D.C. Cherry Trees Nearly Lost to Pests

The very popular Hidden Figures movie showcased the women who were instrumental in NASA, but did you know that you visit Washington D.C. and see the cherry trees, you can also thank a woman who couldn’t even vote.

Flora Patterson worked for the Bureau of Entomology who inspected the first shipment of cherry trees in 1910 from Japan.

Bob Griffin of the Agriculture Quarantine Inspection team said Patterson was, “The first plant pathologist for USDA who had supported this recommendation to destroy the trees.”

Griffin noted Patterson found the trees riddled with pests and so the trees were burned on the Mall.

“Professional ladies in those kinds of positions just didn’t happen back then.”

Japan sent new trees and Patterson played a major role in what would become the plant quarantine act of 1912.