Skip to main content
fingerroot

fingerroot

9.9
A tall leafy plant with large pink-purple flowers that has leaves poisonous to livestock and used for heart medicine
  • noun
  • UK
translation icon : dedalera
  • The leaves of fingerroot can be processed to obtain digitalis, a medication for heart conditions.

Examples

  • The spectacular pink-purple flowers of fingerroot bloom in late spring in woodlands.

  • Farmers need to keep livestock away from fingerroot because it is highly poisonous.

  • The fingerroot plant thrives in moist environments.

  • Farmers should be cautious of fingerroots around their livestock.

  • Farmers need to keep livestock away from fingerroot because it is highly poisonous.

  • The leaves of fingerroot can be processed to obtain digitalis, a medication for heart conditions.

  • The spectacular pink-purple flowers of fingerroot bloom in late spring in woodlands.

Synonyms

fingerflower
vsfingerroot
  • UK
9.9

A tall garden plant with large pink-purple tube-shaped flowers and leaves poisonous to animals

is the hyphenated or alternative written form used elsewhere
finger-flower
vsfingerroot
  • Archaic
9.9

A tall plant with large pink-purple tube flowers whose leaves are poisonous but make heart medicine

is the unhyphenated common spelling used in many modern texts
Digitalis purpurea
vsfingerroot
  • Specialized
9.9

A tall European plant with purple bell-shaped flowers whose leaves make a medicine for the heart and are poisonous

is the common English name rather than the scientific label
common foxglove
vsfingerroot
7.8

A tall European plant with clusters of pink-purple tube flowers whose leaves make heart medicine and can poison farm animals

is the general term without focusing on the formal species label
fairy bell
vsfingerroot
  • UK
9.9

A tall plant with clusters of large pink-purple tube-like flowers and leaves poisonous to farm animals

is the standard descriptive name used for medicinal and identification purposes

Surface Forms

fingerroot singular
fingerroots plural

Morphology

fingerroot = finger + root (opaque) = finger + root

Although the components 'finger' and 'root' are clear, the specific botanical sense (source of digitalis, poisonous leaves) is specialized and not directly inferable from the two nouns for an average learner.

Etymology

Fingerroot is simply made from finger and root, so imagine a plant with parts that look like 'fingers' to help you remember it. That's useful because fingerroot names a tall plant whose leaves are used for the heart medicine 'digitalis' and are poisonous to livestock.