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Foxglove
(Digitalis purpurea)
Foxglove © Beth Newman/Plantlife
This well known and easily recognisable wildflower has tall spikes which can bear up to eighty bell-shaped blooms.
These are usually pink but white variants are also occasionally seen. This plant is poisonous, so treat with caution. It is one of the flowers we keep track of in our Wildflowers Count survey - click here to find out how you can help out.
County flower of the Argyll, the West Midlands, Leicestershire and Monmouthshire / Sir Fynwy.
Distribution
Found throughout the UK. The foxglove defines Leicestershire's uplands and the woods and bracken swards of Charnwood Forest. By contrast, it is scarce in the agricultural east of the county. On roadside banks in the mild, humid climate of Argyll, foxgloves look bigger and redder than they do further south. Here they are 'dead man's thummles' (thimbles) or lus nam ban-sith, 'the fairy woman's plant' in Gaelic.
Habitat
Woodland clearings, heaths and banks.
Best time to see
June-September when it flowers.
Did you know...
In the past, painting a cross on the front door with foxglove juice was said to keep the evil spirits at bay.