DigitalisPurpurea01

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The purple foxglove, blooms only twice a year between July and September in its second year. Digitalis purpurea has three subspecies: purpurea, mariana,and hyewoodii. The foxglove plant grows between three and 6 feet high, with leaves varying in length of six and twelve inches. Its flowers are bell-like, purple, pale pink, or white. Furthermore, its flowers are usually spotted red or yellow. It is pollinated by bees and is commonly found in open spaces such as woods, and mountain rock. It has been found growing at altitudes up to 3000 feet. The foxglove prefers light, dry, acid soil. First year growth has been mistaken for Comfrey (Symphitum officinale) with fatal results. Although, ingestion of this plant can be fatal at any time during the life of the plant, it is most toxic just before the seeds ripen. The upper leaves of the stem are also more toxic than the lower leaves.

The man credited with the introduction of digitalis into the practice of medicine was William Withering. Withering was born in Wellington, Shropshire, England in 1741. He followed in the medical footsteps of his father who was an apothecary-surgeon. Withering received his MD degree in 1766.

Digitalis purpurea in Witherings 18th century was a blessing for people with dropsy. At the same time, foxglove concotions began to appear in an attempt to cure, albeit unsucessfuly, illneses such as asthma, epilepsy, hydrocephalus, insanity and others. The 18th century brought foxglove into medical light, but it would take several hundred years before its true healing powers could be harnessed completely.

Throughout history, man has suffered from a widespread illness that "puffed their bodies into grotesque shapes, squeezed their lungs, and finally brought slow but inexorable death. As the disease progressed, a water liquid filtered into every available space and expanded it like a balloon. Sometimes the liquid (quarts and gallons of it) made arms and legs swell so that they were immovable. Sometimes it poured into the abdomen to form a tremendous paunch. Sometimes it waterlogged the lung cavity and thereby made it impossible for the victim to breathe unless he sat bolt upright all day and all night."

The disease, for which the afforementioned description so vividly depicts, used to be called hydrops or more commonly dropsy. Following the diseases of tuberculosis and other infectious diseases, dropsy was one of the chief causes of death.

Digitalis strengthened the pulse when it was weak and slowed it down when it was strong. This was thought to help in such cases like hemorhaging.

It was used in the treatment of any illness which had a fever as one of its symptoms due to the fact that:
(a) It slowed down the fast pulse (b) slowed the heart rate which would in turn decrease the amount of blood circulating and thereby decrease the amount of inflammation in tissues.
(c) It acted as a diuretic to remove the "poisons" in the blood system.

Toxic Agent:
Many of the common names of this plant pertain to its toxic nature (Witches' glove, Dead Man's Bells, Bloody Fingers). Foxglove belongs to the Figwort family (Scrophulariaceae) and the whole plant is toxic. It contains various cardiac glycosides. Symptoms include dizziness, vomiting, irregular heart beat, and delerium or halucinations.

Digitonin is a Digitalis drug derived from D. purpurea. It is used in modern medicine to increase the force of the systolic contractions and prolong duration of the diastolic phase in congestive heart failure. Digitalis drugs lower venous pressure in hypersensetive heart ailments, elevate blood pressure in a weak heart act as a diuretic, and reduce edema. However, the theraputic dose is dangerously close to the lethal dose. Historically, Foxglove was employed by herbalists for a variety of purposes, fom an ointment used for cleansing wounds and reducing swelling to boiling it and using it as an expectorant.