Digitalis
Useful properties of digitalis
Digitalis has been actively used in medicine since the eighteenth century, it was then that its beneficial properties were first identified by official science. Many experts noted this medicinal plant as one of the most effective means of therapy at that time. Since the middle of the nineteenth century, it has firmly entered the Russian and then the Soviet pharmaceutical industry. This medicinal flower has several main varieties, the most widely used to obtain drugs of various effects.
The main medicinal raw material is the leaves of the plant. They are usually harvested in the first year of growing after they have reached the required size. In digitalis leaves, cardiac glycosides are present, such as digitoxin, digoxin, lanatosides A, B, C, D, E and some others. Scientists note the high biological activity of digoxin and lanatoside C. It is they that largely determine the usefulness of the flower in the fight against various cardiovascular diseases.
Ancient physicians used this medicinal herb to treat pectoral and abdominal dropsy and epilepsy. In addition, foxglove has long been used in folk medicine as a pain reliever for skin inflammations. However, drugs from it were forbidden to be used to combat inflammation of internal organs, bleeding and severe fever.
Application of foxglove
Foxglove medicines are one of the most effective medicines for the treatment of chronic heart failure and severe circulatory disorders. Medicine widely uses this plant to eliminate edema resulting from cardiac disorders, it is useful for hypertension and tachycardia. Preparations based on this healing flower are also prescribed for acute infectious diseases, atrial fibrillation, thyrotoxicosis and to normalize the activity of the heart muscle.
Pharmacists use the leaves of foxglove and purple foxglove to obtain crystalline gitoxin and digitoxin, as well as corligid, which is the sum of all glycosides. Traditional medicine uses all the ground parts of the plant in the treatment: stems, flowers, leaves. They are great for making decoctions and infusions to improve heart function.
Drugs based on foxglove reduce shortness of breath, significantly improve the patient's general well-being, and help normalize the pulse. Often, such medicines are used for sclerosis of the coronary vessels, mitral valve defects, myocardial dystrophy, and hypertension. Doctors forbid using them for a long time, since some components of the plant tend to accumulate in the body, which can lead to serious consequences.
Foxglove flowers
The flowers have a bizarre tube-bell-shaped shape. Usually they are collected in a one-sided, many-flowered long raceme. The color scheme of different plant varieties can vary significantly from each other. Due to its elegant shape and bright color, the flower is often used for decorative purposes. Traditional medicine uses the flowers of this medicinal plant along with the rest of the aerial parts. They are part of many tinctures and decoctions.
Foxglove leaves
Leaves are the most commonly used medicinal element in this plant. For medical purposes, they are usually harvested in the first year of development and preferably in the afternoon. After harvesting, the leaves are dried in dryers at a temperature of no more than sixty degrees or in the open air under awnings, laying them out in a thin layer. The prepared raw materials should be stored in a dark and dry place, since when moistened, they can lose their biologically active properties.
The beneficial properties of the leaves are determined by the high content of cardiac glycosides in them, which are transferred during storage and under the influence of enzymes into other compounds. The leaves also contain organic acids, flavonoids, choline. The leaves are widely used for the preparation of various cardiac medications.
Quite often, the leaves of the plant are used in traditional medicine recipes, in particular, the powder from them helps with hysteria and some other nervous disorders. In addition, it is actively used for the early healing of wounds. It must be remembered that the leaves of a flower are a potent medicine, so the exact dosage must always be followed.
How to grow a foxglove?
This garden flower is most commonly propagated by seed. The best time for this type of cultivation is in the spring, around April-May. The seeds should not be buried deep, but only a little sprinkle with earth. The appearance of the first shoots can be accelerated if the seeds are soaked for a week beforehand. They should be sown in rows with an interval of 45 cm so that adult plants do not die from lack of space. If the seedlings are too frequent, they must be thinned out, otherwise the flowers of the plant will be small and the honey plants will be short.
At first, seedlings develop slowly, so picking (transplanting) is performed only after a month and a half at a distance of 5 cm from each other. At the end of May, the seedlings are planted in a permanent place. It should be remembered that foxglove loves fertile, loose, permeable soils. If it grows in places with stagnant spring waters, then flowering may not occur.
Foxglove care consists of weeding, loosening the soil and watering in dry weather. A couple of times per season, the plant can be fed with mineral complex fertilizers. Mulching the land with sawdust, which should be carried out in the fall, also gives good results. The best and most stable specimens are marked in advance in order to collect seeds from them for reproduction.
The plant is susceptible to various diseases. If leaf spot can be eliminated with the help of copper-containing fungicidal preparations, then peduncle rot and root rot are incurable. Viral diseases are also very dangerous, which can be easily recognized by rolling the leaves with a tube. In such cases, the plant must be removed immediately.
Foxglove tinctures
Tinctures are among the main dosage forms of this plant. When preparing them, the entire aerial part of the foxglove is used, although the leaves are most often used. Tinctures of this herb in combination with other medicines are effective in treating heart failure, valvular heart disease and other diseases. They slow down the heart rate, enhance the contractile function of the heart muscle, and increase the filling of the heart with blood.
The squeezed juice of a flower was used by folk healers to treat breast hardening in women. Ointments and tinctures of some varieties of this medicinal herb were used externally in the form of washings. They were good for scrofula or skin conditions.
Types of foxglove
There are several garden forms of the plant, differing in the height of the trunk, color of flowers, structure of corollas and their location in the inflorescence. In addition, in different types of flowers, the leaves have a different shape, size, character of venation and intensity of pubescence of the leaf blade.
Foxglove yellow grows mainly in the center and southwest of Europe. This species is a perennial plant, reaching a height of one meter. It has smooth leaves and stems and bright yellow flowers, which is why it got its name. Foxglove yellow is actively used in landscape design. There are practically no mentions of its use in traditional medicine.
Foxglove purple is the most common and showy plant species. It has a straight, cylindrical stem, large and beautiful purple flowers. It reaches a height of up to 120 cm. This species is especially common in the Mediterranean, Southern, Western and Central Europe. It is widely used in folk medicine and pharmacology. In particular, gitoxin and digitoxin are extracted from the leaves.
Decoctions and infusions of this medicinal herb promote effective wound healing and help with hysteria. It is also worth noting the presence in the plant of minerals, organic acids, saponins, flavonoids, vitamins and some other useful components.
The woolly foxglove is the most ordinary-looking of its kind. It has smaller flowers than other species. Despite this, it is actively used in medicine. Due to the content of acetyldigitoxin and celanide, drugs that regulate the activity of the heart muscle are obtained from the woolly foxglove. The leaves of this plant have the greatest healing power. Traditional medicine uses them to treat heart disease and ascites.
Large-flowered digitalis is a perennial herb, reaching a height of one meter. Its root is short, the stem is straight. Its leaves reach 20 cm in length and are light green in color. Large-flowered digitalis is one of the five most commonly used varieties of this plant in medicine. On its basis, many cardiac drugs are produced. It is often used to treat circulatory failure.
The leaves of this medicinal herb contain many useful components: cardiac glycosides, steroid saponins, mineral salts, tannins, phenol carboxylic acids, iridoids. For medicinal purposes, the leaves are best harvested in late August and early September.
Perennial digitalis. This species includes a large number of varieties. They are widely used as an effective medicine and an elegant decorative element. Perennial foxgloves have a unique set of components useful to the human body, due to which they have been used in folk and official medicine for several centuries. In cultivation, they are very unpretentious, can put up with a lack of sunlight and tolerate frosts well.
Contraindications to the use of digitalis
It should be remembered that the substances contained in the digitalis flower tend to accumulate in the body and an excessive concentration of glycosides contained in it can cause poisoning. This plant is very poisonous, so self-medication can lead to poisoning of the body, the symptoms of which are arrhythmia, nausea, diarrhea, blue lips and vomiting. Any digitalis preparations should be taken only on the recommendation of a doctor and always under his supervision.
This herb is categorically contraindicated for people with a diagnosis of heart disease, coronary insufficiency, myocardial infarction, infectious diseases and bradycardia. Due to its toxicity, it is forbidden to plant it near children's institutions.
The author of the article: Sokolova Nina Vladimirovna | Phytotherapist
Education: Diploma in "General Medicine" and "Therapy" received at the Pirogov University (2005 and 2006). Advanced training at the Department of Phytotherapy at the Peoples' Friendship University of Moscow (2008).
