Digitalis Varieties

Updated: January 8^th January 28^th March 30^th, 2008

Foxglove
Flickr Photo originally uploaded by leafytreeful.

It is turning into another obsession.  What is is it?  20 varieties?  And CLIMBING baby!

Growing in the garden:

• Digitalis purpurea 'Excelsior Group' 
• Digitalis purpurea 'Pam's Choice'  (This and 'Elsie Kelsey' are very closely related if not the  same.  I have "both" but cannot tell them apart.)
• Digitalis purpurea 'Foxy' 
• Digitalis purpurea f. albiflora ^‡   
• Digitalis ferruginea ^‡  Rusty Foxglove 
   

Sowing on the bench (inside) right now (this is just the Digitalis):

• Digitalis ambigua ^† (sometimes called Digitalis grandiflora)
• Digitalis cariensis ^†  TIMID GERMINATOR 
• Digitalis ciliata ^†  Zone 9 (Container)
• Digitalis ferruginea ^‡  Rusty Foxglove 
  I need more of these beauties.
• Digitalis laevigata ^# - Giraffe Foxglove
• Digitalis lantana ^‡  Grecian Foxglove
• Digitalis lutea ^‡ ROBUST GERMINATOR Straw Foxglove
  
• Digitalis micrantha ^† ROBUST GERMINATOR Digitale Appenninica
  I think this is actually Digitalis lutea subsp. australis
• Digitalis nervosa ^†
• Digitalis obscura ^‡  Willow Leaf Foxglove
  
• Digitalis purpurea f. albiflora ^‡ (duplicate from last year)
• Digitalis purpurea 'Apricot Beauty' ^‡‡ LOST CROP (I seem to have killed every one.  Damn it!)
• Digitalis purpurea 'Excelsior Group' ROBUST GERMINATOR
  There can never be too much of a good thing, no?
• Digitalis purpurea var gloxinioides 'The Shirley' ^‡  ROBUST GERMINATOR "Giant Shirley"
  
• Digitalis purpurea ssp. Heywoodii ^‡ 'Silver Fox'
• Digitalis Stewartii ^†
• Digitalis thapsi 'Spanish Peaks' ^††
• Digitalis viridiflora ^†  Zone 6 (Container) Green Foxglove
• Digitalis x mertonensis ^†  TIMID GERMINATOR Strawberry Foxglove

---

^† Chiltern Seeds, Cumbria, England

^‡ J. L. Hudson, Seedsman, La Honda, California    

^‡‡ A Gift from Chuck B [ Whoreticulture & My Back 40 (Feet) ]    

^# A Gift from a chick!  How cool is THAT!      

^†† A gift from Craig at Ellis Hollow  (I need to get my act together and get him the seeds I promised)

Comments

[lisa]

Awesome! This is very helpful with the notes and all...thank you!

[Ben]

Hallo Lisa,

I am very interested in Digitalis. I have many question but know also some things.
May I comment you list above?

the just name for ambiqua = grandiflora.
"Grandiflora” by Miller in 1738/ “Ambigua” by Murray in 1770. the oldes name is real name.

Digitalis lantana is misnamed. should be lanata = hairy.

heywoodii is probable a subspecies of digitalis mariana.

I had in my garden last year digitalis thapsi and digitalis thapsi Spanisch peaks.
These are differant plants. I suppose that spanisch peaks is the cross with purpurea. The cross is easely made and the result plants are stronger than the original thapsi.
All the plants of de purpurea-complex a very close related and should not keeped together in order to keep them real species.
(purpurea + subspecies/ mariana + supspecies/ thapsi) The are all spanish species created during ice- age when the land was divided by gletschers. there could form different forms/species form one species.

Ciliata = from Georgia ( former Ussr)I keep outside. It survives!

Do you have realy stewarti? Can I have pictures of it? The picture on the internet
shows an unknown digitalis to me. Where should it come from? If you have seeds for me I would be very happy.

Digitalis micrantha should be called lutea spp australis. But for how long? The DNA of this species from Italy beneath the river Po is very different from lutea - lutea. So in the future it will have an other name.