Botanical species · safety record

Digitalis purpurea

The EFSA Compendium of Botanicals holds 9 constituent measurements and 2 adverse-effect records for Digitalis purpurea. This page reports what those source records contain and how to reach them. It carries no effect estimate, no dose and no recommendation.

Accepted name in source: Digitalis purpurea L.

9Constituent measurements

2Safety records

6Cited sources

48Licensed products (Canada)

Regulatory presence

Health Canada's Licensed Natural Health Products Database holds 48 licensed products naming Digitalis purpurea as a medicinal ingredient, matched on the exact Latin binomial. A licence records that a product met the regulator's requirements for sale in Canada. It is not evidence that the product works.

Source material stated

Fresh leaf of second year, harvested just before blossoming
Fresh leaves
Leaf
Leaf/Leaves
Leaves of the second year's growth gathered before flowering
Leaves of the second year's growth, gathered before flowering
Tincture of the leaves of the second year's growth, gathered before flowering

What the records describe

Constituents measured

Plant parts

Preparations

Effect types

Target tissues

Recorded constituents

What analytical work has found in this species, at which plant part and preparation. A measured constituent is a fact about material, not about effect.

Substance	Plant part	Preparation	Concentration	Analytical method	Source
Cardiac glycosides	Seed	Solvent extraction	—	Unspecified	No resolvable identifier
Digitoxin	Flower	—	≤ 0.585 Percent	Unspecified	No resolvable identifier
Digitoxin	Flower	—	≥ 0.536 Percent	Unspecified	No resolvable identifier
Digitoxin	Leaves	—	≥ 0.527 Percent	Unspecified	No resolvable identifier
Digitoxin	Leaves	Solvent extraction	—	Unspecified	No resolvable identifier
Digitoxin	Leaves	—	0.317 Percent	Unspecified	No resolvable identifier
Digitoxin	Seed	—	0.229 Percent	Unspecified	No resolvable identifier
Digitoxin	Unspecified	—	0.22 Percent	Unspecified	No resolvable identifier
Digitoxin	Leaves	—	≤ 0.531 Percent	Unspecified	No resolvable identifier

Recorded adverse effects

Adverse effects reported in the source literature, most often in animal or laboratory models at a stated preparation and dose.

Effect	Target tissue	Plant part	Preparation	Test organism	Test type	Source
Pulmonary and cardiac	Heart	Live plants	Fresh	Human (as organism)	Case report	No resolvable identifier
Systemic	Digestive	Leaves	Solvent extraction	Human (as organism)	Case report	No resolvable identifier

Cited sources

The literature the compendium cites for this species. Metatron Health has no relationship with these authors or journals and earns nothing from citing them.

Ramlakhan, Shammi L., Fletcher, Alan K. It could have happened to Van Gogh: a case of fatal purple foxglove poisoning and review of the literature . European journal of emergency medicine, 2007, vol. 14, no. 6, p. 356-359.
Barentsen, A. The Cultivation of Digitalis purpurea and the Distribution of Digitoxin in its Various Parts. Ons orgaan, 1910, p. Ons Orgaan (1910).
Schmiedeberg. The active principles of foxglove. Pharmaceutical journal, v(3), 741-3, None, vol. aceutical Journal v, no. 3, p. 741-3.
Lacassie, E., Marquet, P., Martin-Dupont, S., Gaulier, JM., Lachatre, G. A non-fatal case of intoxication with foxglove, documented by means of liquid chromatography-electrospray-mass spectrometry . Journal of forensic sciences, 2000, vol. 45, no. 5, p. 1154-1158.
Spagnol, G., Manzano, N. Yield and characteristics of digitoxin obtained from Digitalis purpurea Nahuel-Huapi. Revista sud-americana de endocrinologia, immunologia y quimioterapia, 1935, vol. 18, p. 683-9.
Bertonasco, Eraldo. The digitoxin content of Digitalis purpurea. Bollettino chimico farmaceutico, 1935, vol. 74, p. 114.

Boundary

A constituent measurement is a fact about material at a stated preparation, not a statement about what that material does in a person. An adverse-effect or genotoxicity record is an observation reported in a source, most often in an animal or laboratory model. Neither is a Metatron Health conclusion about causality, human risk or benefit, and the absence of a record is not proof that a preparation is safe. Nothing here is diagnosis, prescribing or individual medical care.

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Independent literature