Last week while shopping for colorful flowers to accent our yard and patio, I saw this interesting flower. The name of this variety is Fox Gloves. (Click on the picture for big.)
This excerpt is from About:Landscaping . . .
According to the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension, “The name foxglove is from the old English name “foxes glofa.” It comes from an old myth that foxes must have used the flowers to magically sheath their paws as they stealthily made their nocturnal raids into the poultry yards of rural folk. The association is natural for the foxgloves grew on the wooded hillside slopes that foxes chose for their dens.”
The scientific genus name also refers to the fact that foxglove flowers are just about the right size for you to slip your fingers into them, as the Latin, digitalis literally translates, “measuring a finger’s breadth.”
As with many poisonous plants, foxglove was traditionally used by expert herbalists for medicinal purposes. Even today, drugs made from foxglove plants are used to strengthen the heart and regulate heartbeat.
