Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
April,  19 1 9- 
Digitalis  Purpurea. 
211 
DIGITALIS  PURPUREA. 
By  George  P.  Koch.  Ph.D.,  axd  J.  Russell  Butler.1 
Introduction. 
The  cultivation  of  digitalis  in  the  United  States,  as  in  the  case 
of  belladonna  and  hyoscyamns,  has  resulted  to  a  great  extent  from 
the  European  war.  Since  our  principal  source  of  supply  was  cut 
off,  there  naturally  resulted  a  great  advance  in  the  price  paid  for 
digitalis  leaves.  Harvesting  the  large  amount  of  digitalis  which 
grew  wild  in  the  western  part  of  Washington  and  Oregon  and  other 
states  did  not  overstock  the  market.  A  considerable  number  of 
individuals  attempted  to  grow  digitalis  on  a  commercial  scale,  but, 
due  to  inexperience  with  such  a'  crop,  there  results  the  first  few 
years  were  more  or  less  failures.  At  present,  however,  growing 
digitalis  has  passed  the  experimental  stage  and  a  successful  crop 
can  be  grown  on  a  commercial  scale.  In  those  localities  where 
these  plants  grow  very  luxuriantly  under  uncultivated  (wild)  condi- 
tions, it  would  require  a  comparatively  small  amount  of  attention  to 
grow  it  commercially.  To  study  digitalis  so  that  a  successful  and 
paying  crop  can  always  be  obtained  in  localities  which  are  not  so 
favorable  for  its  growth,  a  number  of  experiments  were  made  cover- 
ing the  most  important  phases  of  cultivation  of  this  plant. 
Study  of  the  Germination  of  Digitalis. 
Viable  digitalis  seeds,  as  seeds  of  other  medicinal  plants,  have 
been  difficult  to  procure.  This  is  principally  due  to  the  fact  that  in 
those  localities  of  the  United  States  where  digitalis  has  been  culti- 
vated for  commercial  purposes,  the  winters  are  so  severe  that  if  the 
plant  is  to  be  grown  as  a  biennial  or  perennial,  the  roots  have  to  be 
removed  from  the  soil  in  the  late  fall  and  stored  under  cover.  This 
is  a  rather  expensive  undertaking,  and  has  discouraged  the  growing 
of  digitalis  as  a  perennial  plant. 
The  seeds  of  digitalis  are  very  small  and  usually  not  very  viable. 
Stockberger  ( 14)  states  that  they  do  not  germinate  very  well  except 
when  under  the  very  best  cultural  conditions.    Newcomb  (11)  finds 
1  The  authors  are  indebted  to  Dr.  Paul  S.  Pittenger  for  having  made  the 
alkaloid  determinations  and  take  this  opportunity  to  express  their  thanks  in 
this  connection. 
