Copy permalink to share
Asteraceae
Elephantopus

not marked as a favorite taxon Elephantopus Linnaeus. Common name: Elephant's-foot.

Key to Elephantopus

A genus of about 12-30 species, of tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate regions.

Glossary (beta!)

ID notes: The acaulescent species are easily and often confused with Vernonia acaulis, especially when sterile. Vernonia has leaves scabrous above and sparsely pilose to glabrate beneath; Elephantopus has leaves sparely pilose above, densely pilose or tomentose below. Vernonia leaves tend to have a more acute apex, and the veins above are more strikingly differentiated in their color (white or pink) from the adjacent leaf tissue. When in flower, the presence of subtending foliose bracts below the compound glomerule of heads in Elephantopus (versus the absence of foliose bracts below the simple head in Vernonia) is diagnostic.

References: Cronquist (1980); Jones (1982); Strother (2006b) In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (2006a). Show full citations.

Show in key(s)

Show parent family | Show parent in key(s)

Show species in Elephantopus

Your browser does not support SVGs

Hover over a shape, letter, icon, or arrow on the map for definition or see the legend. Data for arrows not developed for genera and families which may have species only occurring outside the flora area.

image #1 of Elephantopus© Will Stuart | Elephantopus nudatus | Original Image ⭷
image #2 of Elephantopus© Richard & Teresa Ware | Elephantopus tomentosus CC-BY-NC, permission granted to NCBG
image #3 of Elephantopus© Scott Ward | Elephantopus tomentosus | Original Image ⭷
image #4 of Elephantopus© Michael J. Papay, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Michael J. Papay | Elephantopus carolinianus source | Original Image ⭷
image #5 of Elephantopus© Scott Ward; Elephantopus florets cluster in 4's, also each head of 4 has 8 total phyllaries (partially  mature cypselae on right)) | Elephantopus carolinianus | Original Image ⭷

Feedback

See something missing or incorrect about Elephantopus? Let us know here:
  1. Please include your name and if possible, email in case when need to clarify what you wrote.
  2. If you opt out of including email, please be as specific as possible (e.g., which photo is incorrect?)
  3. Please do not submit questions asking to identify plants or about horticultural topics (e.g., how do I control an invasive plant in my garden?). Instead, those questions can be submitted here for the Carolinas region only.
  4. Please do not send us feedback about unkeyed species as this work is ongoing.
  5. Please allow time for flora edits to show in our next data release. We greatly appreciate your feedback but may require extra time to research complicated taxonomic issues.