'Gin berry' being revitalized in England

A typical juniper bush.

• From The Telegraph of London

Juniper bushes in England have been brought back from the brink of extinction, ensuring the fragrant berries can continue to flavour gin and tonic.

The berries of the juniper bush are not only used to flavour gin but game dishes and other foods.

However a survey by Plantlife last year found that the species was dying out with a quarter of sites supporting just one bush and most failing to produce young shrubs.

This means the juniper was in danger of dying out in the next 50 years as to get the next generation of juniper, you need good numbers of both male and female juniper bushes at each site.

The charity decided to restore suitable habitat at 30 sites on chalk downland where the species does best, giving juniper extra help at some of the sites where very few bushes remained by sowing seed or planting seedlings.

[Go here for the full story.]

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