☙ Foxglove

Genus Digitalis Tourn. ex L. (1753).WFO

Period Breton (brezhoneg): brulu coll. LB

Period English: fox glove (fox-glove; foxglove); ▲︎ fairy's glove. TM

Period French: digitale f.; BD ballotte f. ('ballot ball', potentially 'grape-harvesting basket' or alternate spelling of ballote, 'black horehound'); LB claquets pl. ? ('clackers'); LB cloches pl. f. ('bells'); LB gantiÚre f. ('woman glove-maker'); LB gants de bergÚre pl. m. ('shepherdess' gloves'); LB gants de Notre-Dame pl. m. ('gloves of Notre-Dame'); LB gueule de loup f. ('wolf's-snout', also snapdragon); LB pétards pl. m. ('firecrackers'); LB toquet m. ('little hats', particularly brimless caps). LB

Digitalis purpurea: digitale pourprée f. ('purple foxglove').LB

Period Gaulis: Digitalis purpurea: meuran-fith. HP:FE

Period German: Fingerhut ('finger-hat'). JRV

Sentiments:

🏶︎ SalubritĂ©Salubrity, invigoration ◼︎ (1811); DB

🏶︎ Folly ◆︎ (1825); HP:FE

🏶︎ Youth ◆︎ (1825); HP:FE

🏶︎ Insincerity ▲︎◆︎ (1829-1884); DLD SJH TTA S&K HGA:LPF GAL JS CMK KG

 I know I can't trust you ▲︎ (1884); CMK

🏶︎ A wish ▲︎ (1832-c.1871); EWW JS

🏶︎ Treachery ▲︎ (1834); O&B

🏶︎ Stateliness ▲︎ (1840); CHW

🏶︎ I am not changed—they wrong me ▲︎ (1840-1841); TM FSO

🏶︎ South ▲︎ (1841); LH

🏶︎ Nur treuer Liebe weihe ich mein Herz.To true love only I consecrate my heart. ●︎ (1880). JRV

Region: A native of Europe. SJH

Seasonality: TBC.

Period Colours: Flowers, crimson purple; sometimes white, or yellow. SJH

Heraldry:

Digitalis purpurea: According to Henry Phillips and Blackwoods, purple foxglove is the plant emblem of Scottish Highlands clan Farquharson (Clann Fhearchair).

Included Species:

Digitalis purpurea L. (1753),WFO purple foxglove.

Other Verse:

❧ Walter Scott, The Lady of the Lake: The Western Waves of Ebbing Day. (1810) Canto I:XII. (See below.)

❧ "The Rake's Song", The Decemberists (Colin Meloy), The Hazards of Love. USA: Capitol/Rough Trade. (2009) track 10. ('Charlotte I buried after feeding her foxglove'.)

đŸœ± On sentiments: The sentiment of folly, writes Phillips, rises from the flower spikes of the foxglove resembling the cap and bells of a jester.

The sentiment of youth, he writes, comes from the light down that covers the stalks of the foxglove, similar to the fuzz on children's cheeks. I suspect that Hooper's south is merely a typographical mistake for this.

Of stateliness, Waterman writes that the foxglove's towering flower spikes rising over the rest of the garden make this sentiment. I also note, however, this passage in Walter Scott's 1810 The Lady of the Lake:

Foxglove and nightshade, side by side,
Emblems of punishment and pride,
Grouped their dark hues with every stain
The weather-beaten crags retain.

which would seem to imply that foxglove is the emblem of pride, given Nightshade's association with poisoning - although it is notable that Digitalis, too, is a virulent poison, infamous in folk legend.



Abécédaire de Flore

B. DelachĂ©naye, 1811 ◼︎


NOMS DES FLEURS SUBSTITUÉES
AUX LETTRES ALPHABÉTIQUES,
ET TABLEAU DE COMPARAISON.

NOM DES FLEURS MOTS ANALOGUES
6. digitale. dédain, dédit, défi.


(21)


6. La digitale, le d, comme dans devoir.


(39)


DESCRIPTION DES PLANTES
DE L’ABÉCÉDAIRE DE FLORE.

PREMIÈRE PLANCHE.


 6. Digitale Pourpre, Digitalis purpurea, LinnĂ©e. D’une rosette de feuilles couchĂ©es Ă  terre, grandes et d’un beau vert, s’élĂšvent Ă  la hauteur de plus d’un mĂštre (3 pieds) une ou deux tiges ornĂ©es de quelques feuilles et terminĂ©es par un long Ă©pi de fleurs en cloche alongĂ©e, assez grandes pour recevoir le bout du doigt, comme le ferait un dĂ© Ă  coudre (en latin digitale). Elles sont pendantes et couchĂ©es les unes sur les autres, rangĂ©es sur le mĂȘme cĂŽtĂ© de la tige, et cl’une couleur rose pourprĂ©e tendre, marquĂ©e dans l’intĂ©rieur de points plus foncĂ©s. Cette belle plante, qu’on rencontre sauvage dans nos bois, demandait place dans les jardins oĂč elle a donnĂ© sa variĂ©tĂ© Ă  fleurs blanches. Elle fleurit la seconde annĂ©e, et meurt ensuite. On la renouvelle par ses graines, qu’il convient mieux de semer aussitĂŽt leur maturitĂ©.


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EMBLÉMES TIRÉS DU RÈGNE VÉGÉTAL.


D.


Digitale signifie salubrité.


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