Shades Of Foxglove

Now making a grand entrance on the farm is the variety that abounds with foxglove blooms. The pretty stalks of delicate looking blooms are popping up in the dense trees and underbrush along the riparian zone, but are also seen along wooded logging roads or road banks. But it is important to not take the pretty plants carelessly.

According to Poison. org:

Foxglove is an attractive plant that grows throughout the United States. It grows in the wild and is cultivated in private gardens for its beauty. Its bell-shaped flowers are usually bright purple but can sometimes be white, cream yellow, pink, or rose and generally bloom in the spring……

Foxglove also has a dry fruit containing many seeds. Both the flowers and berries attract children. All parts of the plant are extremely poisonous.

The botanical name for foxglove is Digitalis purpurea. You might recognize “digitalis” as the name of a heart medicine. In fact, the medicine is derived from this plant, and that is why measuring digoxin (a form of digitalis) concentrations in the blood can help detect foxglove poisoning. When formulated into a medication with a controlled dosage, digitalis is valuable in treating heart failure. It helps a weakened heart pump harder. People who eat any part of the plant or make tea from the leaves are, in essence, taking an unregulated dose of heart medicine. This can cause the heart rate to slow down or become irregular. Both can be dangerous and life threatening.

The cattle are also susceptible  to the poison property of the plant, but nature has given the critters the good sense to leave the plant alone. They will eat all vegetation around a stalk of foxglove but will not take a single nibble from the noxious plant.

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