digitalis

Foxgloves, Digitalis purpurea, grow in the wild on steep banks, or at the edges of paths or heaths, in acid soil. The plant has a long history in folk medicine, and its active components, digitoxin and digoxin, are still used today, as a conventional treatment for heart conditions. Its German name, Fingerhut, suggests the way generations of children have used the thimble-shaped, bright-pink flowers in their play.

Any of a group of plants belonging to the figwort family, which includes the foxgloves. (Genus Digitalis, family Scrophulariaceae.)

digitalis

Drug that increases the efficiency of the heart by strengthening its muscle contractions and slowing its rate. It is derived from the leaves of the common European woodland plant Digitalis purpurea (foxglove).

It is purified to digoxin, digitoxin, and lanatoside C, which are effective in cardiac regulation but induce the side effects of nausea, vomiting, and pulse irregularities. Pioneered in the late 1700s by William Withering, an English physician and botanist, digitalis was the first cardiac drug.