THE  AMEKICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PH 
By  O.  A.  Farwell  and 
DIGITALIS  THAPSI  LIN^ 
APRIL,  IQ17  ly> 
Late  in  1916,  samples  of  a  new  drug  were  offered  in  America 
under  the  name  of  Spanish  digitalis.  It  has  no  general  resemblance 
to  the  official  digitalis ;  indeed,  at  first  glance,  it  looks  more  like 
mullein  than  anything  else,  being  yellowish  gray  or  yellowish  green 
in  color. 
It  has  been  thought  advisable  to  investigate  the  histological  and 
pharmacological  aspects  of  the  drug  and  the  following  papers  are 
the  result.  Each  author  is  responsible  for  his  own  section  of  the 
work. 
The  drug  consists  of  broken  fragments  of  leaf  (Fig.  4),  stems 
(Fig.  3),  and  capsules  (Fig.  5).  Stems  slender,  terete  or  somewhat 
angular,  green  or  purplish,  densely  covered  with  gland-tipped,  3-7 
celled  hairs  (Figs.  1  and  2),  y2  a  millimeter  or  less  in  length,  velvety 
not  rough.  Bases  of  alternate  leaves  show  a  slight,  decurrent  line 
(Fig.  3)  on  the  stem;  leaves  in  fragments,  rarely  entire,  2-3  cm. 
wide  by  3-15  in  length  narrowly  oblong  or  oblong-lanceolate,  grad- 
ually tapering  to  a  broad  sessile  base,  margin  coarsely  denticulate; 
on  the  lower  surface  the  midvein  is  prominent  with  4-6  inconspicu- 
ous pairs  of  veins,  rugose ;  both  upper  and  lower  surfaces  are  cov- 
ered with  glandular  hairs  but  they  are  not  so  long  as  those  found 
upon  the  stem,  soft  velvety,  not  rough.  Flowers  occasional,  cylin- 
drical, upper  parts  purplish,  slightly  pubescent  externally ;  when  ex- 
panded, cylindrical  below,  contracted  just  above  the  ovary  and  then 
HISTOLOGY. 
By  Oliver  Atkins  Farwell. 
(147) 
