Scientists have found that a natural alkaloid extracted from Daffodils has anti-cancer properties, in an advance that may help improve treatments for the deadly disease.

The researchers led by Denis Lafontaine, from the Universite libre de Bruxelles in Belgium, extracted a natural anti-cancer compound from Daffodils (Amaryllidaceae Narcissus) which can help shut down the "nanomachines" that tumours exploit to grow out of control.