Revellers in Britain can kiss beneath the mistletoe safe in the knowledge
that the plant is thriving. Plant conservationists were worried that Viscum
album would decline because many of the orchards where it flourished have been
grubbed up in the past 20 years. But a new survey shows that mistletoe is as
abundant now as it was in 1970. “In the southeast of England, there actually
seems to be a lot more,” says Jonathan Briggs, author of the survey, published
jointly by Plantlife, a charity, and the Botanical Society of the British
Isles.
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