Digitalis purpurea

Purple foxglove

Family: Plantaginaceae · Type: biennial · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

Purple foxglove is a naturalized biennial found in northern California coastal, Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada, southern Sierra Nevada, central Coast, San Francisco Bay, Transverse Ranges, and Peninsular Ranges in acid soil of open woodlands and disturbed areas at elevations below 1,700 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces white to pink-purple flowers 40 to 60 millimeters long with darker spots on the lower inside surface, arranged in dense terminal spikes. Growing up to 1.8 meters tall with simple stems covered in gray tomentose and glandular hairs, especially toward the top of the plant. Its large leaves are 10 to 30 centimeters long with winged petioles, lanceolate to ovate in shape, with green upper surfaces and soft hairs and gray-tomentose undersides. The fruit is approximately 12 millimeters long, containing numerous small seeds less than 0.5 millimeters in size.

Habitat: Acid soil in open woodland, disturbed areas

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: < 1700 m

Bioregions: NCo, KR, NCoRO, n&ampc SN, s SNH, CCo, SnFrB, WTR, PR

California counties: Tulare, Humboldt, Mendocino, Marin, Santa Cruz, San Diego, Orange, Mariposa, Nevada, El Dorado, Fresno, Sonoma, Siskiyou, Sacramento, Butte, San Mateo, Alameda, Napa, San Joaquin, Placer, Del Norte, Sierra, Trinity, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Yolo, Monterey, Tuolumne

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.