=Price.=—Phytolacca or pokeroot brings from 2 to 5 cents per pound, and the dry berries about 5 cents per pound. FOXGLOVE. _Digitalis purpurea_ L. =Other common names.=—Purple foxglove, thimbles, fairy cap, fairy fingers, fairy thimbles, fairy bells, dog’s finger, finger flower, lady’s glove, ladyfingers, lady’s thimble, popdock, flapdock, flopdock, lion’s mouth, rabbit’s flower, cottagers, throatwort, Scotch mercury. (Fig. 13.) [Illustration: FIG. 13.—Foxglove (_Digitalis purpurea_ L.).] =Range and habitat.=—Foxglove was originally introduced into this country from Europe as an ornamental garden plant, but has now escaped from cultivation in a few localities and is assuming the character of a weed. This is the case in parts of Oregon, Washington, and West Virginia, where the plant is found in great abundance in dry, sandy soil, along roads and fence rows, on the borders of timber land, and in small cleared places. =Description.=—This is a very handsome plant of the figwort family (Scrophulariaceæ), biennial, and the first year forms only a rosette of dense leaves, but in the second year of its growth the simple erect flowering stalk is produced, attaining a height of from 3 to 4 feet. This is round, indistinctly angled toward the top, leafy and downy. The leaves are oblong-ovate, narrowed at the base into long winged stalks; the upper surface of the leaves is dull-green and wrinkled, while the under side is grayish, with short, soft hairs and a thick network of prominent veins. The root leaves are rather large and are borne on long stalks, but as the leaves approach the top of the plant they become smaller and the leafstalks shorter. The plant is in flower about June, and the long clusters of numerous tubular bell-shaped flowers are very showy. The clusters are terminal, and about 14 inches in length. The flowers are large, about 2 inches long, the color ranging from white through lavender to purple, the inside of the lower lobe bearing long, soft, white hairs and crimson spots on a white ground. =Part used.=—Leaves of the second year’s growth only are employed, and these should be collected when about two-thirds of the flowers have expanded. They should be very carefully dried in the shade and then kept in closed boxes or barrels so as to keep out all moisture. The greatest care is necessary in curing, as the leaves soon lose their medicinal properties if not properly dried. Preparations made from foxglove are of great value in heart troubles, but they are poisonous and should never be used except on the advice of a physician. =Imports and prices.=—From 40,000 to 60,000 pounds of digitalis or foxglove are annually imported into this country from Europe, where the plant is cultivated. The American-grown product has so far never been used, but leaves from the wild American plant have been assayed and found to be equally as good as the European article.