Straw foxglove or Foxglove: how to tell them apart?
Straw foxglove and Foxglove look alike and are often mixed up. Here is how to tell them apart, feature by feature, with their photos and the details to look for.
⚡ The quick answer
Straw foxglove
Digitalis lutea
Foxglove
Digitalis purpurea
The foxglove has large pink-purple bells spotted inside, in a dense spike, whereas the straw foxglove has smaller, pale yellow flowers veined with brown, in a looser spike.
🍃 Leaves
Lanceolate, shiny, hairless, bright green
Large, ovate, puckered, downy, in a rosette in the first year
🌸 Flowers
Long upright spikes of small pale yellow bells
Large purple bells spotted inside, in a long one-sided raceme
🍎 Fruits
Small ovoid capsules
Capsules with many small seeds
🪵 Bark
Basal rosette in the first year, flowering stem in the second
Biennial or short-lived perennial herbaceous plant, first forming a rosette of large leaves then an upright flowering spike.
📏 Size
40 to 80 cm tall
80 cm to 1.5 m tall
🗺️ Habitat
Woodland edges, banks, gardens, chalky soils
Clearings, felled woodland, banks on acid soil
⚠️ Toxicity
Toxic in all its parts (cardiotonic glycosides such as digitalin); ingestion can cause serious heart disorders.
Toxic in all its parts (cardiotonic glycosides such as digitoxin); ingestion can be fatal, including for livestock. Never eat.
🔎 And from the Foxglove side
The foxglove has large pink-purple bells spotted inside, in a dense spike, whereas the straw foxglove has smaller, pale yellow flowers veined with brown, in a looser spike.
🌿 Go further
Want to practise spotting these details on real photos? Floraneo offers profiles and quizzes for dozens of look-alike species.
ℹ️ Educational profile — do not use it to judge whether a plant is edible or safe.