PL ex. cor. 25. SCROFULARI^. 82. Digitalis. 325 



VII. 82. DIGITALIS. Gesner. Foxglove. 



Calyx .5-sepaled; sepales unequal; corolla bellshape, 

 bellied; limb oblique, 4 or 5-lobed; lobes unequal; stigma 

 simple ; capsule ovate, pointed, 2-celled ; dissepiments 

 double from the inflected edges of the valves; seeds very 

 numerous, rather prismatic. — Leaves alternate; Jlowers 

 spiked, terminal. 



Digitalis speciosa. Handsome foxglove. 



Sepales ovate, acute; lobes of the corolla blunt ; upper 



lobe not cut ; leaves ovate, lanceolate, wrinkled, pubescent. 



Digitalis purpurea, Ilaii Syn. 283 * ; Ger. em. 790, 1 j Lin. S. P. 866. 

 Digitalis purpurea vulgaris. Park. 653. / 



Digitalis speciosa, Salisb. Prod. 100. 



Woods ; perennial ; June and July. 



Stem 4 feet high, upright, downy; leaves petioled, crenate; 

 spike upright, many-Bowered ; jfloioers purple and white, with 

 blood-coloured spots and hairs. — -The old authors recom- 

 mend it as a pulmonary and epileptic medicine boiled in 

 wine or water, without any particular caution : the leaves 

 are now considered as one of our most valuable diuretics 

 in dropsy, either in powder, infusion, or tincture, and as a 

 sedative in pulmonary consumption; but it must be em- 

 ployed with care, as it has a great effect in reducing arterial 

 action and retarding the pulse, and this action is frequently 

 exerted suddenly, by the accumulated eftects of small doses, 

 so that if the practitioner be not constantly on his guard, 

 he may be surprised by the occurrence of fatal symptoms 

 and lose his patient, even after he has relinquished the use 

 of the medicine. 



Fam. IX. 26. SOLANE^. Jussleu. 



Calyx 5-cut or 5-parted, persisting ; corolla regular, .5-cut, 

 deciduous ; aestivation plaited ; stamens 5, at the base of the 

 corolla, alternate with the lobes; ovary 1, free, 2 or 4-celled, 

 many-seeded ; style 1 ; stigma blunt, rarely 2-furrowed ; 

 pericarp 2 to 4-celled; capsular 2-valved; dissepiments pa- 

 rallel and double, or berried; placentarium central, adnate 

 to the dissepiment ; seeds numerous, sessile ; perisperm 

 fleshy ; corculum enclosed, curved or spiral, excentric ; ra- 

 dicle near the hilum; cotyledons half-round. — Herbs or 

 shrubs ; leaves alternate ; Jlowers mostly extrafoliaceous, 

 pedicelled, bracteated, or rarely spiked. 



