Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Campanulids: Asterales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Elephantopus tomentosus
FAMILY
Asteraceae__
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Read more about Common 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 tomentosus
FAMILY
Asteraceae__
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America
Elephantopus tomentosus
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 179-28-002:
Elephantopus tomentosus FAMILY Asteraceae__
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Elephantopus tomentosus
COMMON NAME:
Common Elephant's Foot, Upland Elephant's Foot, Woodland Elephant's Foot
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
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USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_elto2_001_lvd
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JK Marlow jkm0401e_11
January Greenville County SC
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JK Marlow jkm0007b_15
July Greenville County SC
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JK Marlow jkm0308m_17
August Greenville County SC
Two to five 5-lobed disk flowers in a circle, resembling ray flowers, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).
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JK Marlow jkm100821_457
August Greenville County SC
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JK Marlow jkm100821_464
August Greenville County SC
Flowers in heads surrounded by 3 conspicuous bracts, per Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999).
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JK Marlow jkm100821_470
August Greenville County SC
Leaves are mostly basal, broadly oblong, and lie flat on the ground, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).
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JK Marlow jkm160826_007
August Greenville County SC
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Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_e_tomentosus
August
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JK Marlow jkm210907_3562
September Greenville County SC
Blackwell Heritage Preserve
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JK Marlow jkm111016_017
October Greenville County SC
Stems hirsute, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
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Patrick D. McMillan pdmetomentosus_habit
Month Unknown
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Elephantopus tomentosus
FAMILY
Asteraceae__
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Elephantopus tomentosus
FAMILY
Asteraceae__
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America
Elephantopus tomentosus
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 179-28-002:
Elephantopus tomentosus
FAMILY
Asteraceae__
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Elephantopus tomentosus
509
Forb
Perennial
Habitat: woodlands and woodland borders, usually fairly dry, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common (uncommon in GA Mountains, rare in Carolina Mountains)
Click here to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
Click here to see a map showing all occurrences known to SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria. (Zoom in to see more detail.)
LEAVES:
Simple
Basal & alternate
FLOWER:
Summer/Fall
Disc: Pink/ Lavender
Rays: Absent
Bisexual
Inferior ovary
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Achene
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Forest Plants of the Southeast and Their Wildlife Uses (Miller & Miller, 2005) p060
- Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee (Hunter, 2002) p125
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p392
- Wildflowers of the Carolina Lowcountry (Porcher, 1995) p151
- Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999) p104
- Wild Flowers of NC, 2nd edition (Justice, Bell, & Lindsey, 2005) p255
- Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia (Chafin, 2016) p075
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p292
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p340
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p186
- Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region (Sorrie, 2011) p074