Digitalis purpurea, the foxglove or common foxglove, is a toxic species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae, [2] native to and widespread throughout most of temperate Europe. [3] It has also naturalized in parts of North America, as well as some other temperate regions. The plant is a popular garden subject, with many cultivars available.
It is the original source of the. Individual flowers resemble the snipped off fingers of a glove, hence the common name of foxglove. Genus name comes from the Latin digitus meaning "finger" for the flower shape.
Specific epithet means purple. Foxglove, genus of about 20 species of herbaceous plants in the family Plantaginaceae. Foxgloves are cultivated for their attractive flower spikes, and purple foxglove is the source of the heart.
Phonetic Spelling dij-ee-TAH-liss pur-PUR-ee-ah This plant has high severity poison characteristics. See below Description Foxglove is a biennial (that sometimes behaves like an annual and sometimes like an herbaceous perennial). It is native to western Europe and Morocco and is a member of the plantain family (Plantaginaceae).
The species epithet is Latin for "purple," referring to the. Foxglove is the common name for the plant Digitalis purpurea, from which the drug digitalis is obtained. Foxglove was mentioned in the writings of Welsh physicians in 1250 and later by William Withering in a book published in 1785.
The Foxglove derives its common name from the shape of the flowers resembling the finger of a glove. It was originally Folksglove - the glove of the 'good folk' or fairies, whose favourite haunts were supposed to be in the deep hollows and woody dells, where the Foxglove delights to grow. With tall, showy spikes of tubular pink or purple flowers with speckled throats, common foxglove is a common addition to informal gardens for vertical interest.
This biennial from Western Europe forms a rosette of leaves the first year and blooms in the second year. about Digitalis purpurea. However, the plant is poisonous if consumed directly, and can cause a number of health problems.
Did you know? Other names for foxglove include goblin gloves, witches' gloves and dead men's bells. Biennial or perennial, to 4' in height. Basal leaves lanceolate to ovate or broadly ovate, long-petioled,stem leaves sessile or short-petioled; flowers drooping in one-sided racemes to 2' long; clayx lobes ovate, corolla to 3" long, purple or sometimes pink or white, rarely yellowish, more or less spotted inside.
The inside of the tubular flower is lighter colored and marked with irregular batches of dark brown. Hybridizers have given us an array of flower colors in this increasingly popular plant with white, pink, apricot and bicolor selections now available. The name foxglove is from the old English name "foxes glofa.".