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FOXGLOVE
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Foxglove is the common name for about 20 to 30 species of summer-flowering biennial or short-lived perennial herbs in the genus Digitalis, family Scrophulariaceae. They are native to Europe and northwest Africa to central Asia. The common foxglove, D. purpurea, grows to a height of 150 cm (5 ft). Its leaves are alternate, lance-shaped, up to 30 cm (1 ft) long, and hairy above with soft white hairs below. Leaves are tapered at the base to form winged stalks. The flowers droop and are arranged on erect racemes, and its fruit are capsules containing numerous seeds.
Common foxglove is found in clearings, in burned areas, and in hilly dry pastures, and it is often grown as an ornamental. Many varieties have been originated through breeding, with flowers varying from white to a deep rose color. The dried leaves, the source of the drug DIGITALIS used for heart trouble, have been used medicinally since as early as the 13th century. Because a single hectare can yield hundreds of kilograms of dried leaves, only a few hundred hectares of land are required to meet the demand for digitalis in medicine.
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