Kitchen Garden Forum

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-17233766

BBC report of health warning given to Bristol Chinese community following " The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said the 10 people who had eaten daffodil stalks and leaves were treated in hospital for severe vomiting."

They were a bit dim to confuse Chinese chives with daffs. The chives have a very distinctive and instantly recognisable smell. I've always known daffodils to be edible. I've eaten the flowers several times and it is just like eating lettuce. But I've not eaten the other parts of the plant. I shall be wary of doing so in future.

All parts of daffodils contain poisonous alkaloids, particularly the bulb and less so the leaves.

I noticed my cat eating grass next to a clump of daffodils yesterday - I thought at first she was eating the daffs, but she had a sniff at them and left them alone. Since she eats all sorts of other plants - valerian, bog bean, nepeta, lemon grass and my ginger plant she seems to have an in-built sense of what is safe to eat.