When a celebrity chef makes a recommendation, you might assume you could follow it to the letter. It can only be hoped that this time, nobody did.

For in the pages of Healthy And Organic Living magazine, Antony Worrall Thompson recommended a weed called henbane as a 'great' addition to salads.

But it seems the TV chef, 57, had made a mistake. Henbane, which is related to deadly nightshade, is a classified poison. It can cause hallucinations, convulsions and a rapid heart rate  -  and should never be eaten.

Chef Antony Worrall Thompson advised readers of Healthy and Organic Living magazine to use poisonous weed henbane in salads

Worrall Thompson, who has several restaurants, recommended the plant in an interview for the August edition, in which he told of his passion for organics.

'In the restaurants we pride ourselves on serving the best of British food, organic and simply prepared. We grow our own fruits, vegetables and herbs, without chemicals, hand-picked and driven within hours to the restaurant.'

When asked if he uses any wild foods in his dishes, he added: 'We have a lot of things growing near the restaurants. We use a lot of nettles at this time of year, mainly for soup. The weed henbane is great in salads.'

But when the magazine's subscribers opened the latest edition, they found a letter drawing their attention to the error.

Mix-up: 'Toxic' henbane, left, and the edible fat hen

Editor Kate Collyns wrote: 'In our August issues Antony Worrall Thompson suggested that the weed henbane was great in salads  -  in fact henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) is very toxic and is a Schedule III poison under the Medicines Act. Please discount this suggestion  -  Antony is very sorry for causing confusion, and had quite a different plant in mind.' A similar correction appears on the magazine's website.

It appears that the chef had confused henbane with fat hen  -  an edible weed. Quick-growing and loved by butterflies, its young leaves are said to be delicious in salads or cooked like spinach.

Last night, the editor added: 'We got hold of Antony to see what his thoughts were and he apologised and said he meant fat hen. It's very unfortunate.'

She said there had been no reports of readers taking his advice. Denise Wales, 46, who subscribes to the magazine, said: 'I think he needs to research what he says a bit more carefully, because people do trust what they read in magazines and newspapers.'

Henbane is used in some herbal remedies. In 1910, Hawley Harvey Crippen used a poison made from the plant to kill his wife. The homoeopathic doctor had ordered a quantity of the powerful narcotic hyoscine from a chemist 'for homoeopathic purposes'.

Hyoscine, which comes from henbane, causes agitation and delirium followed by drowsiness and paralysis. More than a quarter of a grain normally kills within 12 hours. In his wife's remains, more than half a grain was traced.

Henbane can be found growing chiefly in sandy places, by road sides, on rubbish heaps and near old buildings.