Digitalis folklorists and herbalists; herbalists have largely abandoned its use because of its narrow therapeutic index and the difficulty of determining the amount of active drug in herbal preparations. Once the usefulness of digitalis in regulating the human pulse was understood, it was employed for a variety of purposes, including the treatment of epilepsy and other seizure disorders, which are now considered to be inappropriate treatments. Depending on the species, the digitalis plant may contain several deadly physiological and chemically related cardiac and steroidal glycosides. Thus, the digitalis plants have earned several, more sinister, names: dead man’s bells and witch's gloves.
Drug discovery products have often been used as the starting point for drug discovery. Until the Renaissance, the vast majority of drugs in Western medicine were plant-derived extracts. This has resulted in a pool of information about the potential of plant species as important sources of starting materials for drug discovery. Botanical knowledge about different metabolites and hormones that are produced in different anatomical parts of the plant (e.g. roots, leaves, and flowers) are crucial for correctly identifying bioactive and pharmacological plant properties. Identifying new drugs and getting them approved for market has proved to be a stringent process due to regulations