﻿Biennial. — Flowers from Jane to August. 



Root composed of numerous long and slender fibres. Stem from 

 3 to 5 or 6 feet high, upright, mostly simple, leafy, roundish, with 

 several slight angles, pubescent or downy. Leaves alternate, be- 

 tween egg-shaped and spear-shaped, crenate, downy, rugged and 

 veiny, of a dull green above, whitish underneath ; tapering at the 

 base into winged footstalks ; root-leaves largest. Flowers large 

 and handsome, in long terminal spikes or clusters, pendulous, and 

 leaning all one way. Bracteas spear-shaped. Flower-stalks pu- 

 bescent, thickest at the top, 1-Howered ; after the flower drops off, 

 becoming nearly upright. Segments of the Calyx egg-shaped, 

 pointed ; the upper segment narrower than the rest. Corolla of 

 1 petal, nearly bell-shaped, above an inch long, purple, (sometimes 

 white), marked in the inside with blood-coloured spots and hairs. 

 The white variety of this is not uncommon in gardens, and it has 

 been found wild in several parts of England, as in Shentone-lane, 

 near Hartlebury, in Worcestershire, by Dr. Stokes; on Ramps Holm 

 in Derwentwater, by Mr. Winch; about Moxhull, Staffordshire, 

 by Dr. Withering ; near Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, by Mr. 

 Purton ; and by the road-side near Penmynydd, Anglesey, by the 

 Rev. H. Davies. 



“ Was it not,” says Mr. Curtis, “ that we are too apt to treat with neglect 

 the beautiful plants of our own country, merely because they are common and 

 easily obtained, the stately and elegant Foxglove would much oftener be the 

 pride of our gardens than it is at present; for it is not only peculiarly striking at 

 a distance, but its floweis and their several parts become beautiful in proportion 

 to the nearness of our view. How singularly and how regularly do the blossoms 

 hang one over another! How delicate are the little spots which ornament the 

 inside of the flow er ! and like the wings of some of our small Buttetfhes, smile 

 at the attempt of the Painter to do them justice ; how pleasing is it to behold the 

 nestling Bee hide itself in its pendulous blossoms ! while extracting its sweets 

 which furnish our tables with honey, and our manufacturers with wax: nor are 

 the more interior parts of the flower less worthy of our admiration, or less adapted 

 to the improvement of the young Botanist : here all the parts of the fructification 

 being large, he will readily obtain a distinct idea of them ; but more particularly 

 of the fotm of the anthers, and the alteration which takes place in them, pre- 

 vious to, and after the discharge of the pollen.” FI. Lond. 



“ Old authors recommend the Foxglove as a pulmonary and epileptic medi- 

 cine 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, in- 

 fusion, or tincture, and as a sedative in pulmonary consumption ; but it must be 

 employed with care, as it has a great effect in reducing arterial action, and re- 

 tarding the pulse, and this action is frequently exerted suddenly, by the accumu- 

 lated effects 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 pa- 

 tient, even after he has relinquished the use of the medicine.” Gray's Nat.Arr. 



“ We have few indigenous plants,” observes Mr. Knapp, “ not one, per- 

 haps, which we have so often summoned to aid us in our distresses as the Fox- 

 glove ; no plant, not even the Colchicum, (t. 17.) has been more the object of 

 our fears, our hopes, our trust, and disappointment, than this: we have been 

 grateful for the relief it has afforded, and we have mourned the insufficiency of 

 its powers ; could we rely upon its yielding the virtues it is considered to possess, 

 or could we regulate or controul its influence, it would exist unrivalled for beauty 

 and worth amidst our island plants.” Journal of a Natur. 2nd ed. p. 90. 



Those who wish for more particular information respecting the medical pro- 

 perties of this plant, may consult Ur. Withi ring’s Account of the Foxglove, 

 published in 1785, and since reprinted in the Memoirs and Tracts of that author, 

 vol. ii. p. 103. — VVoodville’s Medical Mot. v.i. p. 71. — Thornton's Family 

 Herbal, p. 590, &c. 



