“Earth laughs
in flowers.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Foxglove
(Digitalis Purpurea)
Family: Plantaginaceae
The scientific name means "finger-like" and
refers to the ease with which a flower of
Digitalis purpurea can be fitted over a human
fingertip. Foxglove is a native of Europe and
was first known by the Anglo-Saxon name
“foxes glofa” (the glove of the fox), because
its flowers look like the fingers of a glove. The
flowers are produced on a tall spike, are
tubular, and vary in color with species, from
purple to pink, white, and yellow.
This biennial plant is often grown as an
ornamental plant due to its vivid flowers
which range in color from various purple tints
through various shades of light gray, and to
purely white. The flowers can also possess
various marks and spottings.
Digitalis is part of a group of medicinal
plants containing an extract containing
cardiac glycosides, and it is used to increase
cardiac contractility.
It is also an example of a drug derived from
a plant that was formerly used by folklorists
and herbalists; herbalists have largely
abandoned its use because of its narrow
therapeutic index and the difficulty of
determining the amount of active drug in
herbal preparations. Once the usefulness of
digitalis in regulating the human pulse was
understood, it was employed for a variety of
purposes, including the treatment of epilepsy
and other seizure disorders, which are now
considered to be inappropriate treatments.
Depending on the species, the digitalis
plant may contain several deadly
physiological and chemically related cardiac
and steroidal glycosides. Thus, the digitalis
plants have earned several, more sinister,
names: dead man’s bells and witch's gloves.
March/April 2018 GASPARILLA ISLAND 75