Herbs Containing Digitaloids

Image: Convacard, a heart medication made from lily-of-the-value (see below), retrieved from Apotheke Schweiz on March 5, 2013.

Digitaloids are cardoactive glycosides that exert a digoxin-like effects but are not derived from Digitalis species:

Lily-of-the-Valley

The crude drug is prepared by drying the aerial parts of Convallaria majalis gathered during the flowering period. The standardized powered drug has a 0.2 -0.3 % content of cardioactive glycosides, which number more than 30. The principal glycosides are convallatoxin and convallatoxol. Convallatoxin has an absorption rate of about 10% and a 24-h clearance rate of about 50%. The maintenance dose is 0.2 - 0.3 mg intravenously and 2-3 mg orally. The indications stated in the Commission E monograph of 1987 are "mild exertional failure, age-related cardiac complaints, and chronic cor pulmonale." The contraindications, side effects, and risks are the same as for cardiac glycosides. A single-herb product based on lily-of-the-valley is marketed in Germany under the brand name Convacard. Also, there are a number of combination products containing other digitaloids and other active ingredients.

Squill Powder

The crude drug is prepared by gathering the inner scale of the squill bulb (Urginea maritima after the flowering season, cutting them into transverse and longitudinal strips, and drying and pulverizing them. Depending on its origin, squill powder contains 0.15- 2% cardioactive glycosides. The principal glycosides are scillaren A and proscillaridin, which comprise about two-thirds of the total glycoside fraction; the other third consists of at least 25 other constituents. According to DAB 1996, squill powder is adjusted to an activity corresponding to 0.2% proscillaridin...
The 1985 Commission E monograph states that the indications for squill powder are "mild forms of heart failure, even in patients with impaired renal function.". The contraindications, side effects and interactions are the same as for digitalis glycosides. Single-herb products based on powdered squill are marketed in Germany under the brand names Digitalysat N Burger and Scillamiron. There are also a number of combination products that contain other digitaloids.

-excerpts from pp. 99- 101, Rational Phytotherapy: A Physicians' Guide to Herbal Medicine by Schulz Hansel Tyler (1998)