Digitalis purpurea, L.

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1972, Flora Europaea. Volume 3. Diapensiacea to Myoporaceae, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press : 239-240

2. D. purpurea L. , Sp. Pl. 621 (1753).

Biennial or perennial, sometimes flowering in the first year, (25-)60-180 cm, pubescent to lanate, rarely subglabrous. Basal leaves ovate to lanceolate, long-petiolate, with an indumentum of multicellular eglandular hairs mixed with shorter glandular hairs in varying proportions, rarely eglandular only. Raceme simple or slightly branched, usually many-flowered. Bracts variable, sometimes minute. Pedicels shorter than, equalling or longer than the bracts and calyx. Calyx-lobes ovate-lanceolate to elliptical. Corolla 40-55 mm, purple, pale pink or white, usually spotted inside, glabrous to pubescent or villous outside, cibate. Capsule ovoid, obtuse, equalling or exceeding the calyx. Usually calcifuge. W., S. W. & W.C. Europe; cultivated fo r ornament and as a medicinal plant and widely naturalized or casual further east. *Az Be Br Co Cz Ga Ge Hb Hs Lu No Sa Su [*Au Da Ho Hu Po]. A complex polytypic species centred in the W. Mediterranean region, divisible into at least three subspecies, with several local variants. 1 Leaves greenish, glabrous or pubescent above (a) subsp. purpurea

1 Leaves whitish, tomentose or lanate

2 Corolla white (rarely pale pink or pale yellow); whole plant densely lanate (c) subsp. heywoodii

2 Corolla purplish; leaves and sometimes the whole plant tomentose

3 Lower leaves broadly ovate, ±abruptly contracted at base; pedicel longer than calyx (b) subsp. mariana

3 Lower leaves lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, gradually tapered to the petiole; pedicel as long as or shorter than calyx (a) subsp. purpurea