Elephantopus carolinianus

Elephantopus carolinianus, the Carolina elephant's-foot or leafy elephant's-foot, is a perennial herb of the aster family (Asteraceae) reaching up to about 120 cm in height. The plant produces a basal rosette and a leafy erect stem; the alternate cauline leaves are elliptic, ovate, or lanceolate, up to 12 cm long, with shallowly toothed margins and progressively reduced in size toward the inflorescence. From August to October the stems terminate in dense, head-like glomerules of small flower clusters, each tight cluster containing several 4- to 5-flowered heads subtended by leafy bracts. The five-lobed tubular florets are lavender to occasionally white, with individual flowers lasting only a single day. Achenes bear a short pappus of stiff bristles. The species is native to the south-central and south-eastern United States, occurring from Florida north to Ohio, Illinois, and Pennsylvania, and west to Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, where it favours moist woodlands and shaded stream banks.