Keyed Out #036 — Digitalis purpurea

Question 1

The nodding bell is lopsided, foldable into matching halves along one plane only and never like a wheel, and the young pod sits free above the ring where the petals are joined rather than sunk beneath it.

Accepted Answer

plantain family

Question 2

Each faded flower is replaced by a dry, many-seeded pod that splits open along two seams, not by a set of four little one-seeded {nutlets} sitting in the persistent {calyx}.

Accepted Answer

Plantaginaceae

Question 3

Look up into the wide, unobstructed mouth of a hanging tube: four fertile {stamens} press against the roof, and nothing bearded and sterile lolls on the floor of the throat.

Accepted Answer

Digitalis

Question 4

Its leaves are set singly and spirally up the stalk above a flat ground-level {rosette} formed in the first year, never ringed three to seven at a {node} nor arranged in matched facing pairs.

Accepted Answer

Digitalis

Question 5

Its hanging bells are 1.5 to 2.5 inches (4 to 6 cm) long and rose-magenta outside, their pale floors freckled with dark crimson spots ringed in white, not soft yellow bells.

Accepted Answer

Digitalis purpurea

Question 6

On a wild plant the bells hang from one face of the tall spike only, all looking the same way, instead of being ranked evenly all round the stalk.

Accepted Answer

Digitalis purpurea