Lynnette Henderson
Foxglove, Catching a Late Ray
The Foxglove was employed by the old herbalists for various purposes in medicine, most of them wholly without reference to those valuable properties which render it useful as a remedy in the hands of modern physicians. Gerard recommends it to those 'who have fallen from high places,' and Parkinson speaks highly of the bruised herb or of its expressed juice for scrofulous swellings, when applied outwardly in the form of an ointment, and the bruised leaves for cleansing for old sores and ulcers. Dodoens (1554) prescribed it boiled in wine as an expectorant, and it seems to have been in frequent use in cases in which the practitioners of the present day would consider it highly dangerous. Culpepper says it is of: 'a gentle, cleansing nature and withal very friendly to nature.
It was Doctor William Withering, an 18th Century English country doctor who was instrumental in discovering the effects of digitoxin and digiton on the heart. He was interested in the concoctions of a herbalist and went on to investigate the uses for the foxglove.
Digitalis is used for heart treatments as it regulates irregular pulse rates, although it takes 12 hours to have benefits, so other medication is used to see the patient through those critical 12 hours. The cardiac glycosides it contains stimulate urine production and this lowers the volume of blood and lessens the load on the heart. It was used in ancient India to treat patients with swollen legs caused excess water, which are symptoms of a weak heart. It is a powerful diuretic. It is also used by injection as an antidote for aconite poisoning.
Please treat foxgloves with care, they are poisonous and dangerous and probably don’t taste good.
Foxglove, Catching a Late Ray
The Foxglove was employed by the old herbalists for various purposes in medicine, most of them wholly without reference to those valuable properties which render it useful as a remedy in the hands of modern physicians. Gerard recommends it to those 'who have fallen from high places,' and Parkinson speaks highly of the bruised herb or of its expressed juice for scrofulous swellings, when applied outwardly in the form of an ointment, and the bruised leaves for cleansing for old sores and ulcers. Dodoens (1554) prescribed it boiled in wine as an expectorant, and it seems to have been in frequent use in cases in which the practitioners of the present day would consider it highly dangerous. Culpepper says it is of: 'a gentle, cleansing nature and withal very friendly to nature.
It was Doctor William Withering, an 18th Century English country doctor who was instrumental in discovering the effects of digitoxin and digiton on the heart. He was interested in the concoctions of a herbalist and went on to investigate the uses for the foxglove.
Digitalis is used for heart treatments as it regulates irregular pulse rates, although it takes 12 hours to have benefits, so other medication is used to see the patient through those critical 12 hours. The cardiac glycosides it contains stimulate urine production and this lowers the volume of blood and lessens the load on the heart. It was used in ancient India to treat patients with swollen legs caused excess water, which are symptoms of a weak heart. It is a powerful diuretic. It is also used by injection as an antidote for aconite poisoning.
Please treat foxgloves with care, they are poisonous and dangerous and probably don’t taste good.