#37. Foxglove

Family Name:

Figwort Family

Habitat:

Moist clearings, fields, roadsides.

Characteristics:

1. Flowers purple towhite with white & purple dots on inside of lower petal. Foxglove flowers are a tubular bell shape, with 5 petals that have been fused together. They tend tobe concentrated on one side of the upper stem, and droop in clusters.

2. The leaves are lance-like to oval, and are mostly basal with some on the lower stem. 3. Foxglove plants grow 2 to 6 feet tall.

Uses or Importances:

1. Foxglove is a pretty flower for gardens. They were originally from the european alps, and were introduced to America during colonial times.

2. The plant juices contain digitalis, a medicine used to slow the heart (something Ben Franklin invented).

3. This is one plant you shouldn't eat, as it's extremely poisonous (it stops the heart!).

An enlarged viewof the flowers of foxglove (51 kb)