Digitalis krupnotsvetkovaya application. The use of digitalis in medicine. Variants of the names of plants and legends about digitalis

Despite the fact that it is easy to recognize digitalis (Digitalis), this genus of the Norichnik family is quite diverse. Currently, there are about 35 species and subspecies of this plant. Four of them grow only in the Caucasus, and two - in Western Siberia. Other types of digitalis are found in Europe, East Asia, and North Africa. There are types of foxglove represented by perennials, only biennial plants are part of the others. And those and others bloom in June and bloom until early September.

According to the International Genetic Resources Network, there are 12 types of digitalis:
1. Nyperyanka rusty (D. ferruginea);
2.Napristum grandiflora (D. grandiflora);
3.Neapolla woolly (D. lanata);
4. Nappetis smooth (D. laevigata);
5.Na pry yellow (D. lutea);
6. Nepristous veins (D. nervosa);
7.Napristina unclear (D. obscura);
8.Naprestyanka small-flowered (D. parviflora);
9.Napristine purpurea (D. purpurea); photo\u003e
10.Napristwort flowers (D. viridiflora);
11. Spanish peasant (D. thapsi);
12.Nepechenian mariana (D. Mariana).

For decorative floriculture, digitalis purpurea with a wide variety of varieties and hybrids is of the greatest interest. A separate page of our site is devoted to the story about it (). And now get to know other significant types of digitalis.

Plants of this species are perennials. They are distributed almost throughout southern Europe, the Caucasus, Iran and Turkey. The rusty foxglove in nature occupies several belts - from the lower ones, where there are forests and forest-steppe, to alpine meadows located at an altitude of 1600-1800 meters above sea level. The root of her horizontal, which must be considered when landing. Stems erect, with a height of 40 centimeters to one and a half meters. The pubescence of the stems is weak or completely absent. The size of the flower brushes depends on the height of the plant. A half meter brush reaches 60-70 centimeters. They are formed by yellow-brown or red with purple stripes, dots and veins, flowers a little more than 2 centimeters long. They have a lighter bell-shaped top and a darker shovel-like bottom. As a rule, the “spatula” is densely pubescent. It is a kind of landing site for insects, before they crawl into a flower. The foxglove rusty is considered not as aesthetically beautiful flower as foxglove purple, and is valued more than a medicinal plant. But if she takes the right place in the flower arrangement, it will look very impressive. This is best done if the rusty foxglove is planted in the center of the flowerbed, and not singly, but in a group, so that there are many floral “candles”. You can plant sredneroslye and low flowers around. Especially beautiful redheads of reddish rusty look on a blue and white background.

Digitalis large-flowered

This spectacular flower grows in East Asia and in almost all of Europe, with the exception of the most northern regions. Prefers foxglove large-flowered forest edges and felling. Sometimes it can be seen on stony slopes among shrubs. The root of this species is fibrous, strongly branched. Stem height of one and a half meters or a little more, and below, and pubescent above. It is straight in configuration, only slightly branched at the bottom. The leaves of the large-flowered foxglove are lanceolate, at the bottom are large, have fine teeth on the edge and hairs on the underside. The middle leaves are more oval, mostly without denticles, “sitting” on the stem without petioles. The upper leaves are small, also sessile, located near the pedicels. The foxglove large-flowered got its name due to its large beautiful flowers. They look like bells and are somewhat larger in magnitude than all the other foxgloves. So, the length of the petals of its corolla is about 4 centimeters, and the diameter is about 2. Their color ranges from pale yellow to deep yellow with dark dots inside. But the brush inflorescences in this type of digitalis is not very large, only about 25 centimeters. The foxglove grandiflora blooms in the second year after planting. In the first year, it forms only a lush rosette of leaves. This gorgeous flower invariably attracts rave eyes. It looks great in the center of the flower beds, surrounded by more stunted flowers. Also the foxglove large-flowered can decorate the facade of the house, if you plant it near the wall or near the porch. The famous late-flowering hybrid of digitalis, large-flowered and woolly - “John Innes Tetra” 60 cm high with flowers of yellow-orange color, as well as a new sterile hybrid "Goldcrest" of the same external characteristics.

The name of the species received for the dense pubescence of the stem, upper leaflets and sepals. Digitalis woolly grows in Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Greece, Turkey, Ukraine, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. This species is considered endangered and is listed in the Red Book. In many countries, woolly foxglove is grown in specialized farms as a valuable medicinal raw material. In terms of its chemical composition, it practically does not differ from other foxgloves, however, preparations from it are better absorbed and have a less pronounced cumulative (accumulating poisons in the body) effect. Digitalis woolly is a medium high perennial. She grows up to 70-80 sentiments. Its stem and leaves have a dark green or dark purple color. The lower leaves are up to 20 centimeters long, the average is 10-12 centimeters, the upper leaves are up to 4, and the uppermost ones are very small, like all foxgloves, bracts. The foxglove is woolly, just like the foxglove is rusty, it does not have a special aesthetic beauty. The flowers of these two species are slightly similar, both have a “spatula” - a pair of long, fused petals in the lower part of the corolla. Only if the rusty fossil spatula is dark, then woolly is light, much lighter than the other petals. There are individuals with quite white spatula. Dots and stripes on it are rare, mostly they densely cover the inner surface of the bell-shaped corolla. Its color varies from pink to light yellow or green-yellow. The lower flowers are 3 cm long and the upper ones are about one. The floral brush of the woolly foxglove is not very large, pyramid-shaped, the flowers on it are planted rather thickly. The foxglove woolly blooms in June, July and August.

This view is appreciated for its beauty. It is rarely mentioned in medical reference books. You can meet the plant in the forests and forest-steppes of Central Europe. Digitalis yellow looks very impressive. Its upright stems - candles are decorated with pyramidal racemes inflorescences with pale yellow or rich yellow flowers, like bells. In some varieties, the corolla has a small pointed tongue in its lower part, and some do not. The leaves of yellow foxglove are smooth, the stem grows up to 1 meter, and the flower brush is up to 50 centimeters long. Currently, breeders bred low-growing varieties of yellow foxglove. They are grown in pots. Low-growing varieties bloom in the first year after planting. Digitalis yellow has been used by gardeners since the late 16th century. In the landscape design with the right selection of a number of growing crops, it looks like a king. This species blooms from early July to late August. The most popular variety is Gelb Janus, which some people call Telb Janus. A wonderful hybrid “Glory of Roundway” with small narrow-bell-shaped flowers of pale pink color was created on the basis of yellow foxglove. Flowers are collected in a dense brush, plant height up to 120 cm.

Digitalis ciliated (Digitalis ciliata)

This kind of foxglove is not as popular as the others. You can meet him in the lowlands, and at a height of two and a half kilometers above sea level. The stalks of the ciliate foxglove are low, only up to 60 sentiments, but several of them grow from one root, all of about the same height. The leaves of the plant have sharp tips, and at the edges of the notch. The flower brush is small (up to 10 centimeters), the flowers are whitish-pinkish, resembling bells, not large. It is used digitalis ciliated mainly as a honey plant and a medicinal plant. In decorative compositions is very rare.

Important!   Digitalis grandiflora, rusty, woolly, yellow, ciliary and all other types of digitalis are poisonous. This should be taken into account when contacting the plant.

“Fox gloves”, “fairy house”, “music” and even “bloody fingers” and “dead man's bells” - which only the names for digitalis didn’t tell ordinary people the imagination, supported by ancient folk tales and beliefs.

Perhaps a certain amount of superstition crept into the minds of the scientists who gave the plant the scientific name. The Latin name Digitalis comes from the word digitus - “finger”, and the Russian name comes from the word “thimble”, denoting an item that no one had done in the old days when there were no sewing machines. The foxglove flowers are really the shape and size ideal for so that they can put a finger.

DON'T ANGRY A FAIRY!

“Fairy house” is a name that, obviously, was given to the plant by children. Many of them like to play with these unusual colors. In addition, it was common belief that if you disrupt or damage a foxglove flower in which the fairy hides, left without a house, she can get angry and send misfortunes to the destroyer. In the Middle Ages, the popular rumor assigned another nickname to the plant - “Fox Gloves”. It was believed that the foxglove lends its flowers to foxes - on its paws so that they can sneak up silently on the hen-houses.

FROM WHITE TO PURPLE

In the first year of life, the plant forms a rosette of long basal leaves and only in the second year it accumulates enough strength for the development of the leafy stem and flowering. In the foxglove of the large-flowered flowers, as in all members of this botanical group, horizontally deflected, drooping, are collected in the inflorescence brush; corolla - fused, bell-shaped, slightly irregular in shape. The color of the foxglove flowers varies greatly - from various purple and purple appendages to light gray and pure white. The inner side of the lower lip of the corolla is often decorated with spots and stains of contrasting colors. For the flowers of foxglove large-flowered flowers, lemon-yellow tones and brownish-brown netting of the pharynx are characterized by varying degrees of intensity. The size of flowers of foxglove large-flowered - 3-4 cm in length and 1.5-2 cm in width. The plant blooms in June, numerous small, up to 1 mm in length, prismatic tetrahedral seeds in fruit-boxes are formed in August-September. The foxglove large-flowered mainly reproduces by seeds. It grows singly, does not form thickets. Prefers to settle on acidic soils, under the canopy of deciduous and coniferous-deciduous forests. Included in the regional Red Books of the Altai Territory, Kursk, Kurgan, Novosibirsk, Smolensk, Sverdlovsk, Tver, Tyumen regions, the Republic of Tatarstan, Udmurtia.

HEART AND POISTS

Digitalis refers to poisonous plants, because it contains cardiac glycosides - digitoxin, digitalin, digitonin, and others. They significantly affect the work of the heart, slowing the rhythm of its contractions. The impact of these substances on the human body can lead to dramatic consequences. For this, in Scotland, for example, the plant is called "dead man's bells." However, it is known and especially vividly supported by research in recent years that even toxins of deadly snakes are useful in treating cancer and other diseases, that any poison can be a medicine, and any medicine can become a poison. Everything depends on the quantity and the situation in which these substances are used. The foxglove extract has been known in scientific medicine since the end of the 18th century. It is used in the treatment of severe conditions such as congestive heart failure. This ancient folk remedy received official recognition thanks to the English doctor U. Visinging, who found out: in small doses, the foxglove extract is curative, and only in large doses it is poisonous. In 1896, digitaloxin was isolated from the leaves of digitalis, and in 1930 - digoxin. Subsequently, based on them were created drugs for the treatment of arrhythmias.

RELATIVE PARTIES

The botanical genus Digitalis is not so great: taxonomists have about 20 species, native to Western and South-Western Europe, Western and Central Asia, and North-West Africa. Until recently, the foxglove was attributed to the family of norichnikovyh, and only scrupulous phylogenetic studies conducted ten years ago made adjustments to the definition of the belonging of this plant to this taxonomic rank. Now they are all considered representatives of the plantain family.

A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF

Kingdom: plants
Department: angiosperms
Class: dicotyledonous
Order: Clear Flowers
Family: plantain
Genus: foxglove
Kind: foxglove large-flowered
Latin name: Digitalis grandiflora
Size: height - 40 - 120 cm
Life form: herbaceous perennial
Lifespan: 3 - 5 years