Wildflower Wednesday

This week's Wildflower Wednesday feature flower is the Large-flowered Yellow False Foxglove.

The Large-flowered Yellow False Foxglove is a native wildflower flower that grows in Oak Savannas. It can grow 3 – 5 tall and produces trumpet or bell-shaped flowers that are 1 – 2 inches long. It is pollinated primarily by bees and hummingbirds.

It was historically considered to be in the Foxglove family but was recently moved to the Figwort family.

It is a hemiparasite plant that is a root parasite of oak trees. Because of this, it is also known as “Oak Leach”

It is not a commonly found flower, mainly because of the limited number of oak savannas available for it to grow in and because it is a favorite snack of whitetail deer.

Native Americans used False Foxglove to treat intestinal ailments.

In Celtic folklore, the Foxglove flower was used for protection and healing.

In European folklore, fairies gave Foxglove flowers to foxes to wear on their paws so they could tread silently while hunting.