The author of the text is MSc. Beata Romanowska
Biologists report that the digitalis digitalis genus comprises about 40 different species of digitalis found in temperate and tropical zones. In their natural state, they can be found in the bright forests of Europe, North Africa, Asia Minor and the eastern regions of Siberia. But foxglove grown on plantations also grow in other regions of the globe, such as India, Brazil, North America.
The cultivation is carried out because of the cardiac glycosides contained in these plants (purple and fleecy foxglove are used for medicinal purposes).However, the beauty of large speckled flowers makes foxgloves grow also as ornamental plants.
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Naparstnice in different color variants (Photo: Fotolia.com) |
Medicinal glycosides
Large bell-shaped flowers of digitalis purpurea purple are arranged on one side of a high inflorescence shoot.The characteristic lines and spots on the petals are called pointers for insects, showing them the way to nectar.Color, shimmering fragments of a flower, smell, shape, for example of mycobacteria, or drawing on petals can also be indicators. In the digitalis, they are located on the lower wall of the flower, covered with dark purple spots with a white border. The flowers are pollinated by large bee insects.
Glycosides are present in the entire above-ground part of the plant, but most of them are in the leaves and they are the medicinal raw material.The presence of glycosides makes digitalis a highly poisonous plant.However, they, in very small and well-defined doses, have a healing effect and are used in certain heart diseases. The pure substances are foxgloves -purpleandwoolly , and plants of the genus Strophanthus, lily of the valley and Erisinum.
Foxglove Digitalis - botanical description
•Family- Scrophulariaceae.
•Homeland- comes from Central Europe.
•Growth- a biennial plant, less often a perennial, in the first year it produces a rosette of leaves, in the second it blooms and bears fruit. After the seed is released, it usually dies, less often it produces side shoots, from which weak plants grow.
•Roots- bundle system, quite shallow.
•Leaves- ovate, sharply notched, at the bottom of the stem with a petiole, the upper ones sit on the stem. The lower leaves collected in the rosette are much larger than the stem ones.
•Flowers- slightly pendulous, large, bell-shaped, double-lipped, mottled inside, form a one-sided cluster. Red-purple flowers, sometimes white or cream. It has darker purple, white-edged spots on the inner surface.
•Stem- up to 30-150 cm tall, covered with hairs.
•Flowering period- June, July.
•Fruits- ovoid, sharpened at the end, cracks longitudinally when ripe.
This plant was probably unknown in antiquity, because no record of it was found in the preserved works - neither in the ancient Greeks, Romans, nor in the East.Foxglove began its career asmedicinal plantused in cardiology in 1785 In the 18th century, digitalis was entered into the English, French and German pharmacopoeia, and thus recognized by official medicine.
Decorative varieties of purple foxglove have larger flowers than the species:
• cv. Campanulata with exceptionally large flowers, often with a double crown;
• cv. Gloxiniaeflora with large variegated flowers;
• cv. Excelsior with large flowers placed symmetrically around the stem.
Thedigitalis woollyDigitalis lanata, which is naturally a perennial, is also used in medicine.In cultivation, the foxglove usually dies in the second year after the seed is released, therefore it is treated as a biennial plant.Its yellow flowers with purple veins are arranged around one meter long inflorescence stem.
Dziko occurs in regions of continental climate in Europe - on the Balkan Peninsula, the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.Woolly foxglove was introduced to official treatment in the mid-1930s and since then it has been replacing purple foxglove from the crops, because its raw material is more than twice as powerful and faster than purple foxglove, and also does not accumulate.
Foxglove yellowDigitalis lutea is a perennial plant native to Western Europe, which forms delicate inflorescences of narrow creamy-yellow flowers in summer. It blooms from June to August.
Digitalis cultivation and care
•Soil- fertile, medium-compact, airy, moist, but not waterlogged, rich in calcium, not alkaline - neutral or slightly acidic pH. Plants react positively to high potassium and manganese content.
•Stand- about the southern exhibition, slightly shaded.
•Reproduction- from sowing, in November. The seeds germinate in spring after freezing in the soil (natural stratification).The emergence of spring sowing (April) is less even. The seeds then germinate after three weeks. When sowing, it is not necessary to cover them. You can also prepare seedlings - sowing in March for inspection. The best yields of leaves and a high content of glycosides are obtained by sowing digitalis in the fall or by planting seedlings in the spring.
•Care- immediately after the emergence of the plant, it is recommended to weed one or two times. And in the first period of growth, it has high water requirements.
