Joseph J. Higgins, a U.S. Department of Agriculture botanist who studied climate effects on plant growth, died Jan. 12 at the Collingswood nursing facility in Rockville. He was 87.

He had complications from a stroke, said his companion, Diane Lewis.

Dr. Higgins moved to the Washington area in the early 1960s and joined the USDA as a plant physiologist, performing research on developing crops. He often traveled to conduct research on new plant varieties and hybrids. He retired in the mid-1980s.

A native Washingtonian, he was born Joseph Franklin Tenschert Jr. He legally changed his name to Joseph John Higgins during his 20s. During World War II, he served as a Navy photographer in the Pacific.

He was a 1950 botany graduate of the University of Maryland and received a master’s degree in plant physiology a year later. He received a doctorate from the University of Maryland in agronomy in 1969.

His marriage to Elizabeth Thornthwaite ended in divorce.

Survivors include his companion of 17 years, Diane Lewis of Rockville; four children from his marriage, Jay Higgins of Englewood, Fla., Jenny Mason of Rocklin, Calif., Jody Higgins of Frederick and Louise Singer of Williamsburg; eight grandchildren; and two great-­grandchildren.

— T. Rees Shapiro