Marks and Spencer issued an apology after placing spring onions and bouquets of daffodils on a display with the message “eat well.”
The blossoms can be mistaken for vegetables before they bloom, but if eaten, they can be highly dangerous.
The poisonous substance lycorine is present in every part of a daffodil and can result in symptoms like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain.
They are “the single most common source of plant-based poisoning,” according to botanist James Wong, who tweeted a picture of the display on Twitter.
He wrote: “I don’t want to get any workers in trouble,” adding the hashtag for the M&S Twitter account.
Nonetheless, you need need better training.
The expert, who is a Gardeners’ Question Time panelist and presenter of Secrets of Your Own Food, added: ‘Daffodils are filled with microscopic crystals, so biting into one is like swallowing a box of tiny needles.
‘Properly nasty.’
While it is more common – and dangerous – for people to eat the onion-like bulbs, which have a higher concentration of lycorine, there have been cases in the past of illness caused by eating the stems.
In 2012, people in Bristol’s Chinese community were warned not to eat daffodil stalks and leaves after 10 people were hospitalised for severe vomiting.
A statement from the Health Protection Agency said they may have mistaken the flower for a chive used in Chinese cooking, and advised supermarkets to put warnings in English, Cantonese and Mandarin on their labels.
Three years later, Prof Paul Cosford, the director for health protection at Public Health England, wrote to supermarkets warning them of the dangers of displaying daffodils near food.
He wrote: ‘As I’m sure you are aware, daffodils are dangerous if eaten and poisoning can occur as a result.
‘We are asking you, along with all other major supermarkets, to ensure that daffodils, both the bulbs from which they sprout and the cut variety too, are displayed well away from the produce or fruit and vegetable area.’
A spokesperson for Marks and Spencer said: ‘Customer safety is our priority and our British daffodils are clearly labelled with an on-pack warning that they are not safe to consume.
‘This was a genuine error in one of our stores and as a precaution, we are reminding all stores to make sure the flowers are displayed properly.
‘We apologise for any confusion caused.’
Last year, a town council in Cornwall came under fire after it cut down 1,000 daffodils next to a play park due to fears children could eat them and get sick.