Elephantopus carolinianus |
Elephantopus |
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Carolina elephantsfoot, leafy elephantfoot |
elephant's foot |
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Habit | Plants (1–)3–8(–12+) dm. | Perennials, (1–)2–8(–12+) dm; often rhizomatous or stoloniferous. | ||||||||||||
Leaves | mostly cauline at flowering; blades broadly elliptic or ovate to lanceolate, 6–12(–18+) cm × 30–80(–120+) mm (including petioles), both faces sparsely pilose to hirsute. |
mostly basal or mostly cauline at flowering; sessile or petiolate, petioles ± winged (often clasping at bases); blades mostly elliptic, ovate, or obovate to lanceolate, oblanceolate, or spatulate (rarely orbiculate), bases ± cuneate, margins usually toothed (rarely entire), apices obtuse to acute, abaxial or both faces usually resin-gland-dotted. |
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Bracts | rounded-deltate to lance-deltate, (5–)10–15(–25+) × (4–)6–12+ mm. |
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Involucres | ± cylindric, 1–3+ mm diam. |
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Florets | (1–)4(–5+); corollas white or pink to purple, tubes longer than abruptly funnelform throats, lobes 5, lance-linear, unequal (abaxial sinus deepest). |
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Phyllaries | 8 in 4 decussate pairs, the outer 4 ovate, inner 4 lanceolate, all ± chartaceous, margins entire, tips ± spinose to apiculate, abaxial faces of inner 4 usually dotted distally with resin glands. |
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Inner phyllaries | 8–10 mm, sparsely hispidulous to pilosulous, hairs 0.1–0.3 mm. |
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Heads | ± discoid, sessile, not individually bracteate, in clusters of (1–)10–40+ in corymbiform-paniculiform arrays 6–15(–25) cm diam. (each cluster subtended by 2–3 ± deltate bracts). |
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Cypselae | 2.5–4 mm; pappi 4–5 mm. |
± clavate, sometimes ± flattened, 10-nerved or -ribbed, strigillose to hirsutulous; pappi persistent, of 5(–6), 1-aristate scales (look closely for squamiform, gradually to abruptly tapering base of each arista). |
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x | = 11. |
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2n | = 22. |
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Elephantopus carolinianus |
Elephantopus |
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Phenology | Flowering Aug–Sep(–Oct). | |||||||||||||
Habitat | Open or shaded, damp to wet places in pine forests and mixed forests, often on sandy soils | |||||||||||||
Elevation | 10–700 m (0–2300 ft) | |||||||||||||
Distribution |
AL; AR; DC; DE; FL; GA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NJ; OH; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV
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Mostly warm-temperate; subtropical; and tropical regions worldwide; sometimes as naturalized ruderals |
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Discussion | Species 12–15+ (4 in the flora). Pseudelephantopus spicatus is sometimes treated as a member of Elephantopus. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 19, p. 203. | FNA vol. 19, p. 202. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Vernonieae > Elephantopus | Asteraceae > tribe Vernonieae | ||||||||||||
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Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||
Name authority | Raeuschel: Nomencl. Bot. ed. 3, 256. (1797) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 814. (1753): Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 355. (1754) | ||||||||||||
Web links |