Poison or Panacea

Foxglove 

Digitalis purpurea

This delightful spireing flower is steeped in lore and history. This poisonous plant has been used warily for centuries. Highly poisonous, it is not even credited by famed herbalist Dioscorides in his herbal compendium or Nicholas Culpepper. Briefly mentioned by Gerard for its ability to “loosen grosse and slimie phlegm and naughty humours”, but even he agrees with Galen and the “Ancients”, that Gentian is better used to serve this purpose.According to a National Institute of Health article Foxglove was used in ancient times to poison and “contaminate the water supply of opposing forces in a state of war”.It was not until 1785 that William Withering asserts in his  An Account of the Foxglove, and Some of Its Medical Uses , that Foxglove is most useful in the treatment of Dropsy and as a an effective diuretic when the correct dosage and treatment is applied. While this plant has never been highly relied upon by herbalists it has been well appropriated by modern medicine. Once the cardiac glycosides of digoxin and digitoxin were isolated and synthesized in laboratories the resulting drug was marketed (and still is) as Digoxin or the brand name Lanoxin.