The Foxglove.

Since I was a child, I grew up with a love of flowers. I admire their colors, their alluring smells, and of course, how they look in general. I also love how not one flower is alike, but how they are all different in beautiful ways. One flower in particular that caught my eye one day just happened to be the what I am writing about. I was intrigued by its soft pink and white color and the small freckles it had on the inside of its bell. I never noticed that it was in my mom's garden until that one occurrence. Anyways, I went and hurried to try to find my mom, who always seems to disappear around the house, to ask her what kind of flower it was. She told me that it was called the foxglove, and from that point on it has been my favorite flower of all time.

Not only is this flower extremely beautiful and smells wonderful, it also contains medicinal properties not everyone is aware of. This mighty flower contains a powerful steroid glycoside called digitoxin, which can be found when isolated from its leaves. This steroid is used to help combat the condition edema, which was also called dropsy in the late 18th century. Edema is often caused when a person suffers from congestive heart failure. The person's soft tissues could swell if there was an excess of water in the body. 

Digitoxin actually improves the rhythm and the overall tone of the heart in general. This stimulant can also drastically improve the heart circulation in the body too. "Digoxin presumably binds to the membranes of the muscle cells and aids in the pumping of sodium and potassium ions. This then slows heart rate and also reduces heart size, which lessens myocardial oxygen demand (LIVESTRONG)."

I have many reasons as to why I wrote this article. I love this flower and all that it can do, but I also wanted to educate people on this amazing plant. Congestive heart failure is a very common disease that affects around 200,000 people every year. It cannot be cured, but digitoxin, which is found in the foxglove, helps fight the disease. 

Hopefully someday a cure can be found to help rid the world of this disease. My grandfather on my father's side died because he suffered for many years with CHF. I wanted to write this most importantly because I, like many others, have lost someone because of CHF. 

I hope that you enjoyed this article, and I also hope that whoever reads this learns the importance of getting heart check-ups at the doctor. It is very important to make sure your heart is healthy so you can be assured to live a long and happy life. 

Author's Note

This was written to be an educational essay. I also cited LIVESTRONG because I wanted to use as much information as possible. Thank you for reading.