Digitalis

• Scientific name: Digitalis purpurea
• English name: Foxglove
• biennial or perennial beautiful herb up to about 1 – 1.5m tall
• White or purple with ciliated lobes.

a. Climate and soil:

• Temperate climate
• Well distributed rainfall and good sunshine during winter are ideal.
• Grow all types of soils from silty loam to clayey loam soils.
• It thrives well in slightly acidic to neutral soils (4.5 – 7.5 pH).

b. Cultivation

• Propagation: – Through seeds.
• Preparation of land: – 3-4 ploughing, 1-2 harrowing and planking to bring the soil to a fine tilth.
• A well – prepared drainage is necessary.
• 40-50 tones /ha of well fermented FYM or Compost should be incorporated during the final ploughing with soil.

c. Nursery Beds

• Seeds are usually planted in raised N. Beds (3 x1m) in early spring (April –May) or in hot house or poly house in February.
• 500gms of seeds / ha.
• Seedlings are ready for transplanting when 4-6 weeks old.
• Seedlings are transferred to field in March – April.

d. Manures and fertilizers

• 40-60 tons of well-rotted FYM / compost / ha 30:30:30 kg of NPK / ha or 150: 50: 30 kg of NPK/ ha
• Calcium, Mo and Mg. @ 50 kg / ha increases the vegetative growth.
• Split doses. –60 days after transplanting, 30 days after the first dose and before the first harvest and another afterwards are important.

e. Management

• Interculture:- 2-3 weeding and hoeing. Thinning is essential. Thinned out at a distance of 30 – 30cm when they are 5 – 7cm tall.
• Irrigation:- 4 -5 irrigations are required in areas when rainfall is not well distributed. During summer the crops watered at an intervals of 7-10days
• Diseases:- 1. Anthracnose (Colletotrichum fuscum). 2. Leaf spot (Septoria digitalis and Phyllosticta digitalis), 3. Leaf blight (Alternaria spp.), 4. Brown spot, 5. Mosaic viruses.

f. Harvesting

• Leaves are harvested in late fall or summer (May – July).
• The second crop of leaves is taken during the next year. It has been found mature leaves of 1st and 2nd year equally good.
• The leaves could be stored in the form of coarse powder in air tight containers and placed in a cool and a dry place with some dehydrating substances (Silica gel).

g. Chemical evaluation

• The main constituents are Digitoxin, ‘Gitoxin’ and ‘Gitalin’.
• Other important glycosides are Digitoxigenin, Bis-digitoxidoside, Gluco-digitoxigenin

h. Uses

• hearts ailments
• Digitoxin act mainly on the cardiovascular system and is used as cardio tonic to improve the tone of cardiac muscles.
• Improves blood supply to the kidney and thus promotes urination and removes obstructions in kidney.
• It is used in some ointments for local application on wounds and burns.
• Digitaline is used as tonic.
• Gitalin is used in congestive heart failure.
• It is also used in animals as a myocardial stimulant and in treatment of atrial fibrillation.