Petra's Poison. Foxglove, Digitalis purpurea, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Recently I happened to be reading Agatha Christie's (1890-1976) Appointment with Death (1938). Detective Hercule Poirot is called upon to help solve a murder. In an archaeological dig at Petra, Jordan, the dreadful matriarch Mrs Boynton has been found poisoned, and it was discovered that the medicine used was derived from Digitalis, or Foxglove.
This pretty plant was cultivated in the past primarily for its pretty, colorful flowers. Its working on the heart wasn't discovered until the end of the eighteenth century.
Ah! Weep for Mrs Boynton, though she was not much loved. The skies have already rained on our Floxglove in the Hortus!
Petra's Poison. Foxglove, Digitalis purpurea, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Recently I happened to be reading Agatha Christie's (1890-1976) Appointment with Death (1938). Detective Hercule Poirot is called upon to help solve a murder. In an archaeological dig at Petra, Jordan, the dreadful matriarch Mrs Boynton has been found poisoned, and it was discovered that the medicine used was derived from Digitalis, or Foxglove.
This pretty plant was cultivated in the past primarily for its pretty, colorful flowers. Its working on the heart wasn't discovered until the end of the eighteenth century.
Ah! Weep for Mrs Boynton, though she was not much loved. The skies have already rained on our Floxglove in the Hortus!