The rules about picking wild flowers

ShortcutsLawWild plants cannot be uprooted, and you can't pick anything in your local park

It may be a while before Jane Errington and her partner Marc Marrengo venture back to their local park for a springtime walk. On Sunday, police were called after their two daughters were seen picking daffodils; the constables informed Errington and Marrengo that they could be arrested for criminal damage. To prevent a repeat of such a potentially embarrassing situation, here's a handy guide to which flowers you can and can't pick, and where.

Cultivated flowers Flowers growing in council parks are legally off-limits, as Errington's children discovered; the same goes for council-maintained displays on roundabouts or verges, any gardens planted by a particular organisation (ie community gardens), and nature reserves or protected land. And if you persistently snaffle daffodils from your neighbour's front garden, you could face prosecution for theft, as well as the sharp end of their tongue.

Wild flowers According to Dominic Price of wild plant protection charity Plantlife, "it is not normally an offence to pick the 'Four Fs' – fruit, foliage, fungi or flowers – if the plants are growing wild and it is for your personal use and not for sale." Dozens of rare or endangered plants – from the lady's slipper orchid and adder's tongue, to threadmoss and sandwort – are, however, protected under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act, so pick those and you could face arrest (though you're unlikely to stumble across too many of them). Whatever you do, don't drag up the whole plant to resettle it in your own garden – the law firmly forbids the uprooting of any wild plant.

The conclusion? If in doubt, save yourself the trouble and head to your local florist.

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