You never know what might be lurking in the middle of a bouquet of
flowers… bees, spiders, extra points if you also spot the ant.
The flower belongs to Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) also called Lady’s
Glove . . . not native but naturalized . . . grows about four feet tall with a
spike of flowers maybe a foot or two high. Very common in the Willamette
Valley and Coast range of Oregon.
You might also find a white cultivar. It’s interesting to watch bumblebees visit this flower. They crawl in and
then back out, falling backwards to fly instead of turning around to
launch.
Beware however. . . because of the presence of the cardiac glycoside digitoxin, the
flower, plant, and seeds can be fatal if ingested.
Photo by: by Larry Rea, June 20, 2017 – www.taxaflora.com
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