628 SCIENTIFIC AND APPLIED PHARMACOGNOSY 



Allied Drugs. The seeds of Digitalis purpurea are about 1 mm. 

 or less in diameter, yellowish or dark brown, oblong or spatulate in 

 section, more or less plano-convex and somewhat tuberculate. They 

 contain apparently the same principles as the leaves. The seeds 

 contain digitoxin which is said to be different from that obtained 

 from the leaves and is known as a-digitoxin. 



The leaves of Digitalis grandiflora, growing abundantly in 

 Switzerland, appear to be as efficient as those of Digitalis purpurea. 



Spanish Digitalis. The stems, leaves, flowers and capsules of 

 Digitalis Thapsi. The drug resembles mullein being of a yellowish- 

 gray or of a yellowish-green color. Leaves in fragments, rarely 

 entire, 3 to 15 cm. in length and 2 to 3 cm. in width, narrowly oblong 

 or oblong-lanceolate, gradually tapering into a broad sessile base, 

 margin coarsely denticulate, mid-vein prominent with 4 to 6 incon- 

 spicuous pairs of veins, both surfaces soft velvety covered with 

 glandular hairs. Stems slender, 0.5 mm. long, green or purplish 

 and densely covered with gland-tipped, 3- to 7-celled hairs. Flowers 

 occasional and purplish. Capsules ovoid, about 15 mm. in length, 

 greenish or pale brownish, usually partially separated and opening 

 at the summit by a large pore. Odor slight ; taste bitter and slightly 

 acrid. It resembles Strophanthus in its pharmacologic properties 

 and is about three times as toxic as Digitalis purpurea. (Farwell 

 and Hamilton, Am. Jour. Pharm., 1917, 89, p. 147.) 



DIGITALIS AMBIGUA. This species grows abundantly in 

 Austria and the leaves seem to show a therapeutic activity equal to 

 official Digitalis. (Chem. Zeit., Vol. 41, p. 99.) 



Adulterants. The leaves of other cultivated varieties of Digitalis 

 have been substituted for those of D. purpurea, as those of the 

 Mammoth Foxglove (D. monstrosa), which is distinguished by produc- 

 ing long, spike-like racemes which are terminated by one large flower. 



The leaves of Matico (Fig. 66) have numerous stomata and the 

 non-glandular hairs are from 2- to 6-celled. The leaves of Salvia 

 Scalarea (Fam. Labitse) possess non-glandular hairs somewhat 

 resembling Digitalis, but the glandular hairs are of the labiate type 

 with large, 8-celled, glandular heads. The leaves of Verbascum 

 Phlomoides (Fam. Scrophulariacese) have multicellular, branching, 

 non-glandular hairs resembling those of V. thapsus, and small 

 glandular hairs resembling those of digitalis. The non-glandular 

 hairs of Inula Conyza (Fam. Composite) are 3- to 4-celled with thick 

 walls, the basal cell being broad and truncate. 



Literature. Newcomb, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1911, 529; Borne- 

 man, Ibid., 1912, p. 547; Miller, Ibid., 1913, p. 297; Hatcher, Drug. 



