DIGITA'LIS LU'TEA. 



SMALL YELLOW FOX-GLOVE. 

 Class. Order. 



DIDYNAMIA. ANGIOSPBRMIA. 



Natural Order. 



SCROPHULARIN^E. 



No. 94. 



Digitalis from digitale, the finger of a glove. The 

 name appears first to have been given by the Ger- 

 man writer Fuchs, or Fuchsius. Hence the plant 

 was called Digitalis Fuchsii. Sir J. E. Smith sug- 

 gests that our English appellation, Fox-glove, may 

 have risen from this circumstance. 



Most of the species of Fox-glove are extremely 

 showy and attractive plants. The very beautiful 

 spikes of flowers, that are produced by the Digitalis 

 purpurea, or common Fox-glove, and which we so 

 frequently see as a beautiful ornament of waste and 

 high ground, cannot have escaped the notice of the 

 most apathetical observer. 



Both the purple and white variety are now fre- 

 quently met with in gardens and shrubberies, and 

 but few plants exhibit more beauty and gaiety. 



The digitalis we may notice as well for its delete- 

 rious and medical qualities as for its beauty. In the 

 hands of the unskilful it forms an extremely danger- 

 ous medicine ; whilst Dr. Withering and others have 

 shown, that when administered with skill and cau- 

 tion, it is, perhaps, one of the most valuable vege- 

 tables that we possess. 



