Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.

Read more about Coastal Plain Elephant's Foot at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.

The acaulescent species of Elephantopus 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, per Weakley's Flora (2022)

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Elephantopus nudatus   FAMILY Asteraceae__

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 179-28-003:
Elephantopus nudatus   FAMILY Asteraceae__

COMMON NAME:
Coastal Plain Elephant's Foot, Smooth Elephant's Foot, Savanna Elephant's Foot, Pineland Elephant's Foot

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USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913    pnd_elnu_001_lvd

        

Bruce A. Sorrie    bas_elephantopus_nudatus1

August    Moore County    NC

Flowers all discoid [no ray flowers], pink or purple, rarely white, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas.

Bruce A. Sorrie    bas_elephantopus_nudatus2

August    Moore County    NC

Leaves essentially all basal, flat on the ground (maybe 1-2 small stem lvs), per Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region.

WEAKLEY'S FLORA (11/30/12):
Elephantopus nudatus   FAMILY Asteraceae__

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Elephantopus nudatus   FAMILY Asteraceae__

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 179-28-003:
Elephantopus nudatus   FAMILY Asteraceae__