Digitalis Lanata Seeds (Foxglove Seeds)

Product Description

Digitalis lanata is a biennial or short-lived perennial that grows to 3 feet tall. This plant is also known as Grecian Foxglove, Wooly Thimble, and White Thimble. This native of Southeastern Europe gets its name because its buds are covered with a wonderful thick fuzz.

This very rare and beautiful foxglove produces long racemes of orchidlike flowers that are white with bronze, yellow or purplish tinted marks on a dark green foiage. It can be perennial or biennial, but usually needs a second year for flowering to occur in early Summer.

Hardiness zones 4-9, (-32°C/-25°F, -5°C/25°F) in Winter. Use ordinary garden soil. Thrives in sun, but part shade in hot Summer areas. Keeping this plant watered will result in better flowering and healthier foliage.

Additional Information

Common name Woolly Foxglove , Grecian Foxglove
Germination Easy to grow from seed started indoors a month before the last frost. Place seed on the surface of lightly firmed, moist seed compost in pots or trays. Keep the surface of the compost moist but not waterlogged. Keep a temperature of 65-75°F. Light aids germination. The seeds should germination in 14-21 days, it can be more, don't give up.

Available @ http://www.rarexoticseeds.com/en/digitalis-lanata-seeds-foxglove-seeds.html

Cryopreservation of Digitalis lanata Ehrh. cell cultures: Preculture and freeze tolerance

Cryopreservation experiments were performed with Digitalis lanata cell cultures. The main stress was laid on the behaviour of the cells during the preculture period and the capacity of various preculture additives to induce freeze tolerance. The following compounds were used as preculture additives: trehalose, mannitol, sucrose, melibiose, proline, and sorbitol. They are listed in the order of their respective efficiency. Using trehalose, high post-thaw viability rates were achieved and the cells resumed growth after a short lag period. Melibiose was used as a preculture additive for the first time. Its suitability was in the range of that of sucrose. Proline and sorbitol were not able to induce freeze tolerance in Digitalis cells. Cell viability showed a considerable decrease at the beginning of the preculture period. This reduction was found to be transient in the presence of trehalose, mannitol, sucrose, and melibiose. The damaging effects of proline and sorbitol were too severe to be compensated for by the cells. The PAL activity increased markedly in the presence of proline, whereas the trehalose-treated and the control cells behaved nearly identical to one another.

article by
Eva M. Göldner, Ursula Seitz, Ernst Reinhard

availble @ http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF00044260?LI=true

Additional Information about Digitalis lanata

Scientific Name:
Digitalis lanata Ehrh. (Scrophulariaceae).

Common Names:
Grecian foxglove, Woolly foxglove.

Plant Description:
Herbaceous plant to ½ m tall, leaves simple, spirally disposed along the stem, sessile, narrowly oblanceolate, with woolly hairs. Flowers disposed along terminal racemes, tubular and pouch-like with a broad lip, light yellow mottled with brown netting, lip white. Fruit a capsule with many minute seeds.

Medicinal Use:
Plant traditionally used to treat heart problems. It contains powerful cardiac stimulants, digoxin and digitoxin, used to treat cases of congestive heart failure. Digoxin is eliminated from the body through the kidneys, whereas digitoxin is eliminated through the liver. [http://www.drugs.com/digoxin.html; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digitoxin

Geographic Distribution::
Native to Eastern Europe.

· http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Digitalis_distrbution_global.png.

Medicinal/Toxic Compounds:
Digitoxin [13], digoxin. For the treatment of congestive heart failure.

Presumed Site of Biosynthesis/
Accumulation:
Whole plant.

Internet Links:
· http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digitalis_lanata,

· http://www.robsplants.com/plants/DigitLanat.php, http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/749/,

· http://www.naturephoto-cz.eu/digitalis-lanata-picture-4809.html,

· http://www.learn2grow.com/plants/digitalis-lanata/.

Available @ http://uic.edu/pharmacy/MedPlTranscriptome/i_digitalis_lanata.html 

CONSIDERATIONS ON THE UTILITY OF DIGITALIS LANATA SPECIES FOR DRUG INDUSTRY

Digitalis leaves(Digitalis lanata) are rich in active principles (cardenolides or cardiotonic
glycosides). Their chemical composition is complex besides the cardiac
heterosydes being saponins and flavones, organic acids, lipids and glucids, tannins
and mucilages.
At present time mutagenesis is considered as being an indispensable way for
obtaining some desired mutations, and the induction of the mutations could be the
only alternative for the improvement of a character without affecting the rest of the
genoms.
The intervention with mutagenic agents increases the frequency considerably
of mutations appearance and the bigger the mutations number the bigger the chance
of identification of some useful mutations in improvement.
available @http://www.revagrois.ro/PDF/2008_1_16.pdf

description about Digitalis lanata

Digitalis lanata
Figwort family (Scrophulariaceae)

This perennial wildflower is a biennial or short-lived perennial. During the first year, it forms a low rosette of basal leaves. The basal leaves are up to 6" long and 2" across; they are lanceolate, oblanceolate, or elliptic in shape and usually smooth (entire) along their margins. Both the lower and upper surfaces of these leaves are dull green and glabrous. During the second year and thereafter, an erect flowering stalk develops that is 2-4' tall and unbranched. The lower half of the stalk is light green, yellowish green, or purple, terete, and glabrous; sometimes their are purple or brown dots on light-colored stalks. Spreading to slightly drooping alternate leaves occur along the lower stalk that are up to 8" long and 1½" across. The alternate leaves are lanceolate-oblong in shape, smooth along their margins, and sessile or nearly so. The lower and upper surfaces of these leaves are dull green and glabrous. The primary veins of both basal and alternate leaves are parallel. The stalk terminates in a spike-like raceme of flowers about 1-2' tall. The flowers are densely arranged along the raceme and they are oriented in all directions. The upper half of the stalk (or axis of the raceme) is light green, yellowish green, or purple, terete, and more or less glandular-hairy. Individual flowers are about 1¼-2" long. Each flowers consists of a broad tubular corolla with 5 lobes, a calyx with 5 sepals, 4 stamens, and a pistil with a long style. The corolla tube is pale cream to yellowish green with an intricate network of brown or purple veins; its exterior is finely pubescent. The two upper lobes and two lateral lobes along the outer rime of the corolla are small in size and curve backward. The lower lobe is much larger in size (about ½-¾" long) than the other lobes; it is bright white and curves downward. The stamens and style are located along the upper surface of the corolla's interior. The sepals are light green, linear-lanceolate, hairy, and ciliate along their margins; they are about ½" long. The short pedicels are green and hairy. Underneath the flowers, are individual leafy bracts that are longer toward the bottom of the raceme than toward the top; they are highly variable in length (from ¼" long above to 6" long below). The leafy bracts are green, usually lanceolate-oblong in shape, variably hairy, and sessile; their margins are smooth and often ciliate. The blooming period occurs from late spring to mid-summer, lasting about 1 month. Afterwards, the flowers are replaced by ovoid seed capsules about ½" long that are green and hairy. At the apex of each seed capsule, the persistent style of the flower becomes stiff and hooked toward its tip. Each capsule contains numerous seeds. The root system consists of a taproot. If a plant lives longer than 2 years, it will die down to a rosette of basal leaves that persists during the winter. It will develop another flowering stalk when warm weather returns.

Biotransformation of extracted digitoxin from Digitalis lanata by Streptomyces.

The biotransformation of digitoxin and some of its derivatives extracted from Digitalis lanata by Streptomyces isolated species was investigated. Cultures of a Streptomyces strain designated EUSA2003B, isolated from an Egyptian soil sample, efficiently induced selective 12beta-hydroxylation of the steroid aglycone of digitoxin (DT) and its alpha-acetyl and beta-methyl derivatives. The transformation reaction was performed within a 5-day fermentation process, products were isolated and their aglycone moiety was obtained by acid hydrolysis and their structures were elucidated by 13C and 1H NMR. The biotransformation resulted mainly digoxin (DG, approximately 87%), meanwhile, digoxigenone (DGON, approximately 7.0%) was also afforded as a side product. The present study revealed that: 1-Streptomyces isolate EUSA2003B harbors its specific 12beta-hydroxlase and has the capability to transform DT and it's alpha-acetyl and beta-methyl derivatives into their corresponding digoxins at reasonable yields. 2-The minor structural differences in the trisaccharide side chain seemed ineffective on the transformational capability of this organism. 3-The Streptomyces might also possess a specific glycosidase that splits the saccharidic side chain beside another dehydrogenase that oxidizes C3 at the steroid nucleus into its ketone form (DGON).
article by
Keshk S, Mostafa M, Tawfik F, Elshemy I.
available@http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21699088

Isolation and quantitative determination of some cardioactive glycosides from Digitalis lanata by high-performance liquid chromatography.

A rapid extraction method followed by high-performance liquid chromatographic assay was developed for the quantitative determination of the cardioactive glycosides of Digitalis lanata. The leaf samples were extracted with water or aqueous alcohols. The simple extraction method gives a better yield than the methods described previously. Lanatoside C and its metabolites have been separated on a reversed-phase column with various mixtures of acetonitrile, methanol, and water as mobile phases for isocratic elution. Extraction and quantitative determination of lanatoside C and digoxin from a leaf sample require not more than 30 min.
article by
F Orosz, M Nuridsány, J Ovádi