Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

ELEPHANT'S FOOT

File Size: 45 KB

Elephantopus carolinianus Raeusch.

Cherokee County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 12-40 inches

Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family

Flowering Period: August, September,October

Also Called:

Carolina elephant's foot.

Stems:

Erect or ascending, 1 or occasionally 2-several, variously pubescent to nearly glabrous with age, usually branched above; branches widely ascending.

Leaves:

Mostly basal, otherwise alternate, simple, ovate to lanceolate or broadly elliptic, 4/5 to 8+ inches long, 1.2 to 3.6 inches wide; surfaces sparsely hairy; margins scalloped to toothed; tip pointed or tapering-pointed; basal leaves often absent at flowering; base long-tapering to short-stalk; upper leaves progressively reduced, sessile.

Inflorescences:

Head-like clusters, small, dense, 2/5 to 1 inch across, terminating branch tips; subtending bracts 1-3, leaf-like, heart-shaped, equaling or exceeding cluster, somewhat folded lengthwise; tips pointed; involucre cylindric, 3/10 to 2/5 inch long; involcural bracts 1/4 to 2/5 inch long, in 4 opposite pairs, outer 2 pairs shorter than inner; base straw-colored; tips green, minutely resin-dotted, tapering to points; ray florets absent; disk florets 1/4 to 1/3 inch long, irregularly and deeply 5-lobed, white to lavender.

Fruits:

Achene, cylindrical, 1/6 to 1/5 inch long, 8-10-ribbed, brown, pubescent, tipped by whorl of 5-8 bristles about 1/5 inch long, enclosing small seed.

Habitat:

Moist wooded areas, bases of bluffs, stream banks, open or shaded moist sites; often on sandy soils.

Distribution:

East 1/4 of Kansas.

Origin:

Native

Comments:

The only Elephantopus species found in Kansas. From Greek elephantos "elephant" and pous "foot". The common name alludes to the shape of the stem leaves, but North American species do not necessarily resemble an elephant's foot.

Elephant's foot florets