Digitalis lanata
Beitr. Naturk. 7: 152. 1792.
Stems 30–100 cm, glabrous or glabrate. Leaves: blade lanceolate to oblanceolate, 5–15 × 1–2 cm, margins entire. Inflorescences not secund, villous; bracts 15–30 mm. Pedicels spreading, 1–4 mm, villous. Flowers: sepals narrowly lanceolate to narrowly triangular, 8–10 × 1.5–2 mm, villous; corolla tube yellow to yellow-brown with red to brown veins, globular to ovoid, 10–15 mm, throat 10–15 mm diam., abaxial lip strongly curved, white, lingulate, 7–15 mm. Capsules ovoid-conical, 10–15 mm, villous. Seeds brown to black, prismatic, 1 mm, finely reticulate-alveolate. 2n = 56 (Asia).
Phenology: Flowering Jun–Jul.
Habitat: Disturbed sites, roadsides, abandoned lots.
Elevation: 0–1000 m.
Distribution
Ont., Que., Conn., Ind., Kans., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Nebr., N.H., N.J., N.Y., Ohio, Pa., Vt., W.Va., Wis., Eurasia, introduced also in South America, elsewhere in Europe, elsewhere in Asia, Africa.
Discussion
Plants of Digitalis lanata are the principal source of the drug digitalin. Digitalis lanata can be confused with D. leucophaea Sibthorp & Smith, which is rarely cultivated and has linear bracts and smaller flowers.
Selected References
None.