Plantains, Figworts, Foxglove and Speedwells 255caused by drinking an infusion of the plant,^145 and it had a reputation in
English villages for causing alarming illnesses if recklessly used for treating
colds.^146 In Orkney the observation that foxgloves proved deadly poisonous
to geese caused them to be shunned for human remedies entirely.^147
In Ireland, too, the generality of folk practitioners avoided prescribing
the plant for internal use,^148 at any rate latterly (by which time its dangers
had probably become more widely known).
Heart troubles feature in the folk records as the single most widespread
use, if the British and Irish ones are combined. While it is possible that this
usage partly antedates the publicity given to the treatment for that complaint
Digitalis purpurea, foxglove
(Green 1902, fig. 463)