Grecian foxglove (Digitalis lanata) is a herbaceous plant that grows in many countries in Europe, Asia and North America.
This plant reaches a height of up to 120 cm, and its shoots are covered with white hairs, which give it a characteristic appearance. The leaves are petiolate, heart-shaped, and the flowers are white or pink.
Grecian foxglove belongs to the family Plantaginaceae. It is a biennial plant, although sometimes it can survive for a longer period of time. It occurs in the wild mainly in Asia Minor and on the Balkan Peninsula, which is why in Europe it is obtained by cultivating this plant.
Grecian foxglove is an ephemerophyte, i.e. it can go wild temporarily, in a country where it usually does not grow. This plant is cultivated for pharmaceutical purposes, sometimes for ornamental purposes.
It should be noted that Grecian foxglove has strong poisonous properties, but it has many advantages that are successfully used in medicine. Its leaves are considered the herbal raw material.
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Leaves.
Grecian foxglove is famous for its many medicinal properties. Some of the most important of them are:
Grecian foxglove is used in various fields of natural medicine. The most important applications are:
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Digoxin is a component that has positive inotropic properties, i.e. it is a substance that has a very beneficial effect on the heart, mainly responsible for changing the pace of this organ.
Under the influence of this substance, the heart works slower, thanks to which it significantly increases its efficiency. By changing the pace of the heart muscle, blood circulation improves, venous stasis is reduced. In addition, they improve the blood supply to a large number of organs.
Cardiac glycosides, which are found in Grecian coxglove, also show positive tonotropic effects, increasing the tension of cardiomyocytes in the contraction phase.
These glycosides also have positive bathmotropic properties, which increase the excitability of the heart to various stimuli.
Grecian foxglove also has a negative chronotropic effect, responsible for reducing the heart rate (the frequency of heart muscle contraction decreases as a result of a longer diastolic phase) and a negative dromotropic effect, which reduces the speed of conduction of stimuli in the conductive system of the heart in the diastolic phase.
Grecian foxglove is mainly used during acute circulatory failure and serious heart rhythm disorders (also in other heart diseases associated with heart muscle failure).
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Grecian foxglove, mainly a cardiac glycoside, is indicated for people suffering from chronic heart failure with atrial fibrillation or flutter with rapid ventricular function.
Grecian foxglove is definitely contraindicated for people who have recently had a heart attack, people suffering from ventricular tachycardia or cardiac amyloidosis.
Atrial fibrillation is a disease associated with improper and uncoordinated stimulation of the atria of the heart, which is associated with impaired blood pumping function.
This can lead to blood stagnation in some parts of the heart, increasing the risk of blood clots and thromboembolic complications. Digoxin, by reducing the frequency of contractions and increasing the excitation threshold, stabilizes the heart.
Atrial flutter differs from fibrillation in that in the course of flutter, the regularity of the heartbeat is preserved and, in relation to atrial fibrillation, the heart shows a lower contraction frequency.
Treatment of atrial flutter mainly involves electrical cardioversion, which restores normal heart rhythm, or ablation, which involves cutting out foci of the heart muscle with increased activity.
Pharmacological treatment, including digoxin, aims to control the heart rhythm and prevent thromboembolic complications.
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Grecian foxglove is grown primarily as a medicinal plant. It tolerates frost well. Small, caramel-colored flowers and a dense rosette of pointed leaves look beautiful on rustic flower beds. This perennial blooms from June to August.
Grecian foxgloves adapt well to changing conditions. They can grow in any soil, as long as it is not too dry. The best place for growing Grecian foxgloves is a sheltered, semi-shaded or shady spot. The recommended spacing for planting Grecian foxgloves is 30 x 40 cm.
Watering during droughts and covering in winter are the main procedures in Grecian foxglove care that are worth remembering.
After flowering, the faded inflorescences of the Grecian foxglove can be cut just above the rosette, and the plant will bloom again in favorable conditions in the same season.
You can also leave the inflorescences if you want the Grecian foxglove to spread. Purple foxglove varieties may produce flowers of different colours in the second generation.
Grecian foxglove contains saponins (a chemical compound mainly responsible for the formation of foam), flavonoids (a compound that mainly gives the plant the right color and protects the plant from numerous diseases and insects) and secondary and primary glycosides, which are responsible for the production of digoxin.
It is mainly thanks to this component that Grecian foxglove shows its use in medicine. Glycosides of Grecian foxglove also have lanatosides A, B, C and D.
In addition, Grecian foxglove contains cardenolide glycosides (this is a group classified as cardiac glycosides with a five-membered lactone ring). Interestingly, cardenolide glycosides are rare, and the plant that shows such properties, apart from Grecian foxglove and purple foxglove, is lily of the valley.
It is worth adding that both the glycosides of purple foxglove and Grecian foxglove are widely used in medicine, but it is the Grecian foxglove that has a greater advantage, because purple foxglove has significantly greater toxic properties than Grecian foxglove, which is why purple foxglove is used less and less often. This is due to the fact that it is more difficult to control cardiac activity.
Digoxin, contained in the leaf of the Grecian foxglove, should be dosed with great caution and in accordance with the doctor's recommendations. The doses of the drug are determined individually, depending on the age, body weight and kidney function of the patient.
Digoxin may only be used by pregnant women if, in the doctor's opinion, the benefit to the mother outweighs the potential risk to the fetus.
Digoxin is contraindicated in cases of hypersensitivity to the active substances, periodically occurring complete heart block or second-degree atrioventricular block. Additionally, this herb should not be used in cases of arrhythmia caused by poisoning with cardiac glycosides.
Before prescribing Grecian foxglove, the attending physician should always exclude potential contraindications to the use of the drug by conducting an appropriate interview.
The side effects of using Grecian foxglove leaves preparation include:
Digoxin interacts with many drugs. Digoxin should be used with caution in combination with beta-blockers due to possible prolongation of atrioventricular conduction time.
Drugs that reduce blood potassium levels, such as some diuretics, corticosteroids, or lithium salts, increase sensitivity to digoxin.
Grecian foxglove is mainly used for pharmacological purposes. Grecian foxglove substances, from which medicines are made, should be obtained only and exclusively from the plant that is cultivated.
Grecian foxglove growing in the wild should not be used. It is worth noting that drugs using the substance of Grecian foxglove are prescribed only and exclusively with the consent of a doctor, because they have too strong properties, these drugs can seriously harm an unwitting person.
Grecian foxglove is also used as a herbal raw material. Grecian foxglove leaves are collected mainly from annual plants (they do not show any medicinal properties before) and then dried (isolating glycosides).
Sometimes Grecian foxglove leaves can be used to produce a tincture. However, this should be done skillfully, because, as already mentioned, the plant shows poisonous properties in large doses.
Grecian foxglove, however, has less use in modern times. In the past, this plant was used very often to improve the patient's cardiac efficiency, but people at that time did not have the knowledge about Grecian foxglove that we have today.
