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The Kumano-zakura, photographed in Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture, in March 2017 (Provided by the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute) Photo/Illustraion WAKAYAMA--A botanist says he has identified a new species of cherry tree in the Kii Peninsula, which, if verified, will be the first to be discovered in the wild in Japan in about a century. The early-blooming “Kumano-zakura” (Kumano cherry) is thought to be distributed in Wakayama, Nara and Mie prefectures over an area measuring 90 kilometers from north to south and 60 km from east to west. Toshio Katsuki, 50, who heads the cherry tree preservation team at the...

The 3,750 cherry blossom trees that line the Tidal Basin and surrounding national parks in Washington, D.C., survived winter blizzards and will again bloom during the peak tourist season, according to the National Park Service. Agency horticulturalist Rob Defeo says only four or five trees were destroyed and that crews are working seven days a week to prepare for the annual Cherry Blossom Festival, which runs from March 27 to April 11. The damage is nothing we haven't seen in 90-plus years," he said. "I guarantee you, by the time the festival comes around, you won't even know there was...