[GPI]

Digitalis Purpurea commonly known as foxglove, finger flower or fairy glove.


Photo / pic / image of Digitalis Purpurea.
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Digitalis Purpurea facts and information.

This plant receives its common name from the tubular flowers that are displayed on tall flower spikes throughout May and June.
Digitus is the Latin word for finger, Digitalis flowers just happen to resemble the individual fingers of a glove.
These flowers can be purple, yellow, pink, peach, light blue or white depending on the cultivar selected.
Before flowering, Digitalis Purpurea is a clump of green oval leaves, slightly rough and woolly.
The fruit is a capsule which splits open at maturity to release the numerous tiny (0.1-0.2 mm) seeds.

This foxglove has a quaint cottage garden and mystical woodland look to it. Within your garden give it a position in partial shade; it thrives in most soils provided they are rich in organic matter.
As for spacing the plants, well, Digitalis Purpurea grows to around 100cm (3ft), with a spread of 60cm (2ft).
I suggest planting them in numerous drifts for maximum impact. These drifts will self-seed freely, creating many more foxglove plants.
Foxgloves grow wild in Ireland.
There are so many, some even regard this beautiful cottage flower as a weed.

I do not recommend Digitalis for households with young children as the plant is highly toxic if eaten, due to the presence of the cardiac glycoside digitoxin.
Symptoms of Digitalis poisoning include a low pulse rate, nausea, vomiting, and uncoordinated contractions of different parts of the heart leading to cardiac arrest and finally death.
It is so toxic that even the rabbits and hares avoid them.
Digitalis is definitely a plant that that you should select if bunnies are your problem.

Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Lamiales
Family: Plantaginaceae
Genus: Digitalis
Species: D. purpurea
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