Digitalis "D. grandiflora", "D. lutea" and "D. parviflora". Larvae of the foxglove pug, a moth, consume the flowers of the common foxglove for food. Other species of Lepidoptera eat the leaves, including the lesser yellow underwing. The term "digitalis" is also used for drug preparations that contain cardiac glycosides, particularly one called digoxin, extracted from various plants of this genus. The name "foxglove" was first recorded in the year 1542 by Leonhard Fuchs, whose family name, Fuchs, is the German word for "fox" (the plant genus "Fuchsia" is also named for him). The genus "digitalis" is from the Latin "digitus" (finger),
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