According to British media reports, the striking purple flowers were identified as the poisonous corn-cockle flower by a photographer who had taken photos of them and then looked them up.
All parts of the plant are apparently poisonous and contact can cause severe stomach pains, vomiting, diarrhoea, dizziness and weakness. The seeds are so toxic that just a small number can kill a horse.
The flowers were planted by the Girl Guides in May at Jubilee Park, Royal Wootton Bassett at Wiltshire.
More worryingly however, thousands of the highly toxic plants have been scattered across Britain after people were given free packets of mixed wild flower seeds.
Both the Girl Guides plantation and the free packets were part of promotional activities for a BBC program calledCountryfile, which has launched a ‘Grow Wild Scheme’ that encourages people to grow wild flowers across the country.
Until now the flower was almost extinct in the UK. It is still known to grow throughout much of the United States and parts of Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
