FOXGLOVE 79 



Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea, L.) 



The Foxglove is distributed throughout West Europe in the N. 

 Temperate Zone. It is unknown in early deposits. In Great Britain 

 it is absent in Cambridge, Hunts, Northants, E. Gloucs, S. Lines, 

 Mid Lanes, E. Sutherland, Shetlands, ascending to 2000 ft. in the 

 Highlands. It occurs in Ireland and the Channel Islands. 



The Foxglove is a plant that frequents upland wooded tracts, stony 

 hillsides with scattered clumps of trees. In such places it is common. 

 Elsewhere it is a casual, a few seeds cast adventitiously on sandy 

 ground propagating and spreading in an astonishingly short period of 

 time. It does not frequent as a rule low-lying ground. 



The stem is tall and handsome, simple, leafy, downy, with spreading 

 hairs, rounded. The lower leaves are stalked, between egg-shaped and 

 lance-shaped, scalloped, toothed, deeply veined, with a marked midrib, 

 downy both sides. The upper stem-leaves are stalkless. 



The flowers are borne upon a long raceme with flowers all turned 

 one side, on i -flowered flower-stalks, thickened and suberect. The 

 sepals are between egg-shaped and lance-shaped, with nerves, the 

 posterior one small. The corolla is bell -shaped, monopetalous or 

 tubular, purple, with spots within the mouth, gaping behind, and the 

 upper lip is somewhat cloven, the lower one has rounded segments. 

 The erect capsule is 2-valved, the seeds numerous, small, round, and 

 black or reddish-brown, and flattened lengthwise. 



The stately stem reaches a height of 4 ft. The Foxglove is in 

 flower from June to September. The plant is biennial, reproduced by 

 seeds. It is largely cultivated. 



The flower is a big clapper-like bell hanging downwards, protecting 

 the honey in a ring at the base of the ovary. It is visited only by 

 humble bees. The anthers mature before the stigma. If insects do not 

 visit it, it pollinates itself. An annular or ring-like ridge at the base of 

 the ovary, which is quite smooth and hairy above, secretes the honey, 

 serving to give a foothold, or to exclude flies, &c. The anthers and 

 stigma near the upper wall of the corolla point downwards. The lower 

 stamens mature before the upper and before the stigma, and the longer 

 first become vertical, then the shorter ones. The 4 anthers open 

 before the lobes of the stigma separate. The pistil lies between the 

 anthers. Insects touch the latter on entering, and may remove all the 

 pollen before the stigma is ripe. If insects do not visit them the 

 anthers are covered with pollen till the lobes of the stigma have spread 



