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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/10130525/Juniper-tree-disease-threatens-GandT.html Phytophthora austrocedrae has been spotted on juniper bushes in the Lake District and Scotland. The fungus could wipe out the delicate population of native juniper bushes in Britain. The bluey green bushes used to be found around the country but are now confined to a few chalkland sites around the UK. Many southern English counties have lost 60-70 per cent of their populations of juniper due to loss of habitat. Now they are even more at risk if the disease spreads. Some 45 per cent of Scottish trees are at risk of being wiped out by the fungus. Stock is already suffering from old age, with many specimens more than 100 years old, and booming rabbit and vole populations. Although juniper used in most commerical gins is largely from Eastern Europe nowadays, the British population is key to the survival of the whole species.