Who doesn’t love foxgloves!

In July, we decided to meet informally at Stockton Bury Gardens, near Leominster for a cuppa and a look around the gardens. But with temperature predicted to be in excess of 30 degrees, Stockton Bury decided to close early each afternoon and so our visit was cancelled.

This gave me a dilemma about what to write for August’s edition of this magazine, but it seemed like a good opportunity to republish an article written by our former president Dr John Bell, who sadly passed away earlier this year.
John wrote so beautifully and his articles were extremely informative, so I have chosen ‘Foxgloves’. There is something quite magical about them and John used his medical knowledge and expertise to enlighten us about the use of this common but versatile plant in modern medicine.

The name ‘foxglove’ is as old as the time of Edward III. In Wales it is thought to be the hideout of fairies and so is called ‘fairy folks finger’ or ‘lamb’s tongue leaves’. In Scotland, it is called ‘bloody fingers’ and moving further north ‘dead men’s bells! The Scandinavian legend regarding the prefix ‘fox’ tells that mischievous fairies gave the fox flowers to muffle his paws as he prowled around village hen houses.
Digitalis is a genus of about 20 species, mainly perennials, shrubs and biennials. It grows over large areas of the world and the best-known is Common Foxglove Digitalis purpurea. It thrives in acidic soils in partial sunlight to deep shade, commonly found where the ground has been recently disturbed. Country lore advises its use in companion planting, where it is suggested that placing it around apples, tomatoes and potatoes simultaneously, stimulates growth of these plants.
In 1775, Dr William Withering working at the new Birmingham general Hospital, was treating a patient for heart failure, the treatment was failing. The patient sought an herbal remedy from a gypsy woman and recovered which aroused Dr Withering’s interest. He found a woman in Shropshire and learned from her the concoction of herbs which included the foxglove. This was at the time the traditional cure for dropsy, a condition suggested by the swelling of the tissues due to the poor action of a failing heart. He knew that the extract from foxgloves was potentially fatal. He spent ten years experimenting to find a safe standard dosage, sometimes trying the infusions on himself. In 1885, he published his research with over 150 successful cases, and it followed that an extract of powdered leaf was used for treatment in medicine.
Prior to this date, going back some 100 years, foxgloves were recommended for skin complaints with the leaves applied directly to wounds as a poultice. The entire plant is toxic, including the roots and seeds, but Dr Withering used the Digitalis purpurea extract containing cardiac glycosides which increase the contractile muscle power of the heart, as well as being an antiarrhythmic agent to control the heart rate.It is thought that this was the beginning of modern therapeutics. Digitalis lantana is grown commercially for pharmaceutical use.
Though there are over 20 species of digitalis in cultivation, only a few enter the plant catalogues and hence into private gardens. The genus is placed in the figwort family, Scophulariaceae. The flowers of the foxglove Digitalis purpurea are produced on a tall spike in the second year of growth. In the first year only one stem develops with long basal leaves but in its second year the long leafy stem grows to over 100 inches.
D. purpurea ‘Apricot’ has delicate shades of apricot-coloured flowers. D. purpurea Pam’s Choice’ has dense spikes of large creamy white bell flowers and splotches of deep burgundy colour in their throats. D. ferruginea Rusty foxglove has striking almost globular rusty red coloured flowers on long leafy spikes. D. lutea , the small yellow foxglove has glossy green leaves and pretty yellow flowers crowded down to one side of the spike. A larger, but short lived, yellow/white flowered species is D. grandiflora. D. x Mertonensis is a very fine hybrid described as having flowers the colour of crushed strawberries!

Dr John Bell and Bev Harris 

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