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Carolina Elephantsfoot

Elephantopus carolinianus Raeusch.

Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

▲▼first year rosettes

▲▼mature, flowering plants

▲▼ plant with maturing fruit/seed

Elephantopus carolinianus Raeusch., Carolina Elephantsfoot:  (Bayer Code:  not known; US Code ELCA3)

·         U.S. native creeping perennial wildflower that grows 0.5 to 3.5 feet tall and can produce rhizomes or stolons to form colonies

·         Leaves are alternate,  lanceolate to spatula-shaped, dark green, with fine teeth on margins

·         Plants often form a semi-rosette of larger leaves near soil, then as flowering commences, thin stems arise from the rosettes with fewer smaller leaves

·         Stems may branch once or twice before the tip, then have a few oval leaves just below the cluster of several head inflorescences

·         Heads are about 0.5 inch diameter and  have disk flowers only, no ray flowers, but disk flowers have lobed petals that make them appear to be ray flowers; flowers are white to pale blue

·         Common in moist, open to moderately dense woods

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