Purple Foxglove

Foxgloves (digitalis) are beautiful but toxic flowers. The whole foxglove plant is poisonous (including the roots and seeds). Fatalities from digesting the flowers are rare, but there have been reported cases.

Early symptoms of foxglove poisoning include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, hallucinations and severe headache. Depending on the severity of the toxicosis, the victim may later suffer irregular and slow pulse, tremors, various cerebral disturbances, especially of a visual nature, convulsions, and deadly disorders of the heart.

It is believed that Vincent van Gogh‘s “Yellow Period” may have been influenced by digitalis therapy which, at the time, was thought to control seizures.

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