Journal ·
How to identify foxglove
A foxglove (*Digitalis purpurea*) is a tall UK biennial with a spike of hanging tubular flowers that open from the bottom upwards, usually purple with dark inner spots.
Once you have seen the spike, you rarely confuse it with campion or willowherb. The first-year rosette is the plant people walk past.
Characters that hold
- Spike usually unbranched, often taller than a boot, on woodland edges and clearings.
- Flowers tubular, hanging, opening from the base of the spike so bees work upwards.
- Inner surface spotted; colour commonly purple, sometimes white or pale pink.
- Leaves large, wrinkled, softly hairy, in a rosette before the flowering stem appears.
The Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland and county floras treat *Digitalis purpurea* as native on acidic and disturbed ground. Garden cultivars can be peach or apricot; those are planted, not the wild type.
What it is not
**Red campion** has separate five-petalled flowers, not a tube-spike. **Rosebay willowherb** has a tall spike but open magenta flowers and very different leaves. **Penstemons** in gardens can look tubular; they are not native foxgloves.
Foxglove is poisonous. RHS guidance on foxglove is for gardeners; do not treat any identification page as permission to ingest plant material.
If you can name foxglove from a photograph that shows only leaves, you are past the postcard stage. Guess a few more — Rosette keeps the picture large enough to see the spots and the sequence of opening.
Questions
How do I identify a foxglove?
Look for a tall unbranched spike of hanging tubular flowers, usually purple with dark spots inside, opening from the bottom of the spike upwards. Leaves are large, wrinkled and in a rosette in the first year.
When do foxgloves flower in the UK?
Typically June and July, sometimes into August, on woodland edges, clearings and disturbed ground. They are biennial: a leaf rosette in year one, the spike in year two.
Are foxgloves poisonous?
Yes. Digitalis contains cardiac glycosides. Do not eat any part. Identification is for looking, not foraging.
Can foxgloves be white?
Yes. White-flowered plants occur in the wild and in gardens. The tube shape, spots and spike habit still hold.