Daffodils in Fight Against Alzheimer's

A daffodil crop grown in Powys which will be used to produce a drug to fight Alzheimer's disease is ready for harvesting, its growers have said.

Alzeim, in Talgarth, Wales, farms daffodils for a compound called galantamine, which slows the progress of the disease.

Until now, galantamine has been extracted from snowdrops grown mainly in such places as Bulgaria and China.

It is already available in Scotland but it has to be prescribed privately elsewhere as it is not on the National Institute for Clinical Excellence's prescription list.

The flowers are grown on the slopes of the Black Mountains. It`s considered one of the best locations for growth due to its blooms with greater concentrations of galantamine than those grown in lower areas.