cardiac glycoside

or cardiac glucoside

noun

, Pharmacology.

1. any of a group of drugs used to stimulate the heart in cases of heart failure, obtained from a number of plants, as the foxglove, squill, or yellow oleander.

Example Sentences

The caterpillar, like the beloved monarch butterfly, absorbs the poisonous cardiac glycosides in the milkweed leaves it eats.

From Popular-Science