2l6 
Digitalis.  Foxglove. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I       May,  1913. 
Tragus  was  "  the  first  systematic  author  who  noticed  it,  and  from 
him  it  received  its  name,  Digitalis  (from,  digitus,  finger),  in  allu- 
sion to  the  German  name  Fingerhut,  signifying  a  finger-stall,  the 
blossoms  resembling  the  finger  of  a  glove." — Withering.  (See 
blossom,  Fig.  I.)    The  home  of  the  most  prized  Digitalis  is  England. 
Fig.  2.   Digitalis  bed  in  the  author's  garden,  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  (Much  reduced.) 
Digitalis  is  easily  grown  in  lands  and  countries  fitted  to  its 
culture,  reproducing  from  self-sown  seed.  Motherby  (1775)  states 
that  "  it  grows  only  in  gravelly  beds,"  a  statement  that  has  been 
carried  through  subsequent  literature,  but  is  not  fact,  although  we 
accept  that  the  plant  "  prefers  "  such  soil.  In  limestone  lands  Digi- 
talis failed,  under  our  personal  observation,  to<  respond  satisfactorily 
to  cultivation.  Limestone  sections  of  Kentucky,  although  very 
fertile  otherwise,  and  producing  luxuriant  crops  of  corn  and  heavy 
