ABSTRACT
Digitalis purpurea (L.) commonly known as Foxglove is a popular ornamental herb of the family Plantaginaceae. The plant is well known for its attractive colorful spikes and its therapeutic use in treating heart diseases for ages. The plant is cultivated commercially to obtain the drug from the dried leaves which are used to treat congestive heart failure and certain kinds of heart arrhythmia by improving cardiac functioning and blood circulation. It can cause the heart to beat more strongly and also improve. The phytochemical constituents include glycosides, volatile oil, fatty matter, starch, gum, and sugars. The active ingredients of the plant account for a wide range of therapeutic properties of D. purpurea like cardioprotective, anti-diabetic, antioxidant, antitumor, insecticidal, immunological, hepatic, and neuroprotective effects. Despite all these medicinal and health benefits, the drug is still a topic of discussion in terms of its efficacy and safety issues. This is because the ingestion of plant/plant parts is associated with disorders of the central nervous system causing nausea, drowsiness, hallucinations, vomiting, cardiac dysrhythmias, abdominal cramps, hyperkalemia, etc. The toxicity is due to the cardiac glycosides, C41H64O13 (digitoxin) and C41H64O14 (digoxin), which are present throughout the plant. This chapter describes the overview of D. purpurea including key information on chemical structure and pathophysiology, toxicity and health benefits, the chemical composition of cardiac glycosides and their mode of action, methods of obtaining the drug from the plant, its market demand, along with methods and challenges of conventional and in vitro cultivation methods of the plant.
