33 
DIGITALIS PURPUREA. 
Fox- glove* 
Class DiDYNAMIA. — Ort/er Angiospermia. 
Nat. Ord. Lurid^, Linn. ScROPHULARiiE, Juss. 
Gen. Char. Calyx 5-parted. Corolla bell-shaped, 5-cIeft. 
Capsules eg-g-shaped, 2-cell6d. 
Spec. Char. CaZ?/a-leaflets, egg-shaped, acute. Carols 
obtuse, upper lip intire. 
FUCHSIUS (in his Hist. Stirp.1542) is the first author who notices 
fox-glove, from him it received the name of Digitalis, in allusion to 
the German name Fingerhut, (which signifies a finger stall), from 
the blossoms resembling the finger of a glove. 
The Digitalis Purpurea is a biennial plant, indigenous to these 
countries ;t it is found on sandy and gravelly soils, on mountains, 
on elevated banks and hedgerows; it flowers in June and July; 
the first season it produces only a few large rough oblong leaves ; 
the following spring the flowering stem shoots up, and rises to the 
height of three or four feet, obscurely angular and leafy, termi- 
nating in a spike of purple flowers ;l the lower leaves are large, oblong, 
egg-shaped, serrated, covered with a soft down or hair, and stand 
on short fleshy footstalks, the upper leaves are much smaller, antl 
spear-shaped ; the blossoms are numerous, mostly growing from 
one side ; the calyx is permanent and deeply cut into five segments ; 
the corolla monopetalous, bell-shaped and bulging, of a purple 
colour, contracted at the base into a tube, the border divided 
into four obtuse unequal segments, mottled within, resembling 
small eyes ; the filaments are four and crooked, two of which are 
* The annexed drawing represents a plantof half the natural size, (taken from nature,) 
excepting a portion of the lower part of the stem and some large leaves which were 
removed to allow room to shew the spike of blossoms. Fig. a, the stamina, b. Capsule. 
«. Calyx, d. Style supporting the cloven stigma, e. 
+ The Genus Digitalis comprises many species, of which the Digitalis J^urpurea is 
the only one indigenous to Britain, eighteen species of Digitalis are cultivated in our 
botanic gardens. Hort. Cant. 
t The specific name of Purpurea is ill applied, there being a variety of the Digitalis 
Purpurea with white flowers, but less common in the wild state than the purple : the 
purple variety varies also, very much, in depth of colour. 
VOL. I. F 
