Flower Encyclopedia: Foxglove Foxglove is native to Europe, western and central Asia and northwestern Africa. Foxgloves are also called Witches' Gloves, Dead Men's Bells, Fairy's Glove, Gloves of Our Lady, Bloody Fingers, Virgin's Glove, Fairy Caps, Folk's Glove, and Fairy Thimbles.
These are biennial plants and are tall, slender perennials at 2-5' in height and just 1-2' wide.
It is a very statuesque plant. It has numerous tubular flowers blooming on a spike, ranging in color from purple to white. Foxglove flowers appear in the summer months.
The flowers are bell-shaped and tubular, 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches long, flattened above, inflated beneath, crimson outside above and paler beneath, the lower lip furnished with long hairs inside and marked with numerous dark crimson spots, each surrounded with a white border. The flowers are dabbed with dark purple spots, which are evidence, some say, of where elves or fairies have placed their fingers. In actual fact, these markings are honey guides, enticing bees to visit. These markings show up vividly in ultra violet light, which is important as bees only see in this light. When they land on a flower they actually crawl right into it, visiting the lower flowers first. The lower flowers have usually shed their pollen first and have their stigmas ready to receive the pollen which has come from the previous plants the bee visited - this pollen would be from the ripe anthers of the upper flowers. The roots, which are formed of numerous, long, thick fibers, persist and throw up flowers for several seasons. They have large velvety green leaves.
Foxglove flourishes best in siliceous soil and grows well in loam, Needing little soil, it is found often in the crevices of granite walls, as well as in dry hilly pastures, rocky places and by roadsides.
Foxgloves have a use in modern medicine for heart conditions. It increases the force of heart contractions and so helps in congestive heart failure. Foxglove (like Nasturtium and Borage) improves the strength of nearby plants and encourages pest and disease resistance amongst them.
Did you know?
· Digitalis is a genus of about 20 species.
· The name digitalis comes from the Latin word for "finger," The flower got its informal name from the legend that fairies gave these blossoms to the foxes to wear on their claws for gloves, so they would not get caught when raiding the chicken coop.
· Foxgloves are symbolic of insincerity.
· The earliest known form of the word is the Anglo-Saxon foxes glofa (the glove of the fox).
