Elephant's foot

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Elephant's foot

Elephant's foot leaf

Elephant's foot inflorescence

Elephant's foot flowers

Elephant's foot

Elephant's foot

Elephant's foot

Elephant's foot florets

Elephant's foot bracts and involucral bracts

Morphology

Stem

Erect or ascending, 1 or occasionally 2-several, variously pubescent to nearly glabrous with age, usually branched above; branches widely ascending.

Leaves

Mostly basal, otherwise alternate, simple, ovate to lanceolate or broadly elliptic, 4/5 to 8+ inches long, 1.2 to 3.6 inches wide; surfaces sparsely hairy; margins scalloped to toothed; tip pointed or tapering-pointed; basal leaves often absent at flowering; base long-tapering to short-stalk; upper leaves progressively reduced, sessile.

Inflorescence

Head-like clusters, small, dense, 2/5 to 1 inch across, terminating branch tips; subtending bracts 1-3, leaf-like, heart-shaped, equaling or exceeding cluster, somewhat folded lengthwise; tips pointed; involucre cylindric, 3/10 to 2/5 inch long; involcural bracts 1/4 to 2/5 inch long, in 4 opposite pairs, outer 2 pairs shorter than inner; base straw-colored; tips green, minutely resin-dotted, tapering to points; ray florets absent; disk florets 1/4 to 1/3 inch long, irregularly and deeply 5-lobed, white to lavender.

Fruit

Achene, cylindrical, 1/6 to 1/5 inch long, 8-10-ribbed, brown, pubescent, tipped by whorl of 5-8 bristles about 1/5 inch long, enclosing small seed.

Ecology

Habitat

Moist wooded areas, bases of bluffs, stream banks, open or shaded moist sites; often on sandy soils.

Distribution

East 1/4 of Kansas.

Additional Notes