Mullein foxglove

Description

Digitalis thapsi, which has been called mullein foxglove in the US, is a flowering plant in the genus Digitalis that is endemic to the Iberian Peninsula, where it occurs in eastern Portugal and central and western Spain. It is of commercial importance as an ornamental plant. Hybrids with D. purpurea have proved successful and are fertile. A Missouri Botanical Garden website calls it mullein foxglove.Local vernacular names recorded for this species are abeloura, abeloura-amarelada, aboleira, aveloeira, dedaleira, luvas de Santa María, pegajo and rabo de raposa in Portuguese, whereas in Spanish the most common name is dedalera, followed by viloria, viluria, giloria, dedales and mataperla, but it has also been called abiloria, abiluria, abortones, bacera, beleño, biloria, biluria, campanilla, cascante, cascaor, chupadera, chupamieles, chupera, cohete, cohetera, cohetes, deales, dedales de niño, dedales purpúreos, dediles, digital, digitalis, emborrachacabras, estallones, goldaperra, guadalperra, gualdaperra, guardaperros, hueltaperra, mata de lagartija, mataperros, rabera, ravera, raéra, restalladera, restralleti, restrallos, sabia, tuercecuellos and vueltaperra. Digitalis thapsi is a perennial plant. Its yellow-green leaves are ovate to oblong in shape and decurrent, with winged bases.The flowers, stems and leaves are covered with a dense indumentum of tiny hairs, giving them a soft appearance.These yellow-green hairs (trichomes) are exclusively glandular. The entire plant is very sticky (glutinose). It is caespitose, meaning it grows with its large leaves tightly arranged into one, or a number, of rosettes growing at or just above ground level. In older plants the base becomes woody and highly branched at ground level, so that a single plant has multiple rosettes. The green, round to slightly angular stems grow to (30-)50 to 80(-100)cm in height before they start to flower. The stems are similarly entirely covered in glandular hairs; these are present in two forms: short and subsessile, or much longer, 0.4 to 0.6mm. Digitalis thapsi is an endemic species of the Iberian Peninsula, although it occurs in both Portugal and Spain. It grows in the mountains and rocky plains of the central and central-western parts of the Iberian Peninsula, especially in the Sistema Central and its extensions between the rivers of the Douro and Tagus.