A BEAUTIFUL garden tree which is about to bloom has a deadly secret, warn environmental health officials. Laburnums, which are found mainly in private gardens, make a dramatic sight when in flower, with cascades of bright yellow blooms. But, warn Wigan and Bolton environmental health officials, the trees are extremely poisonous, containing a chemical called cytisine which can cause people to lose consciousness, or even die if enough is eaten.

Three years ago, a group of Wigan schoolchildren had to be rushed to hospital after they ate laburnum seed pods, which look like mange tout peas. They all recovered after treatment.

"There are a great many popular trees and plants which are potentially dangerous and no one would want them all to be removed, least of all the very attractive laburnum," said Wigan environmental health officer Bob Saunders.

"The trees, which are just coming into glorious flower, will soon start to produce the little green pods that look like peas, so we hope that parents will be on the look out and ensure that their children know the dangers.

"The tiny hard black seeds could very easily be swallowed."

The trees are just as dangerous for animals and there has been a recent case of a dog dying after chewing a laburnum twig which its master had thrown for it to fetch.

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