elephant's foot

Elephantopus scaber is a perennial herb with stems present only as an erect, terete, flowering scape. Leaves are obovate or obovate-lanceolate, with crenate or serrate margins, and are arranged in a basal rosette. The capitulescences are terminal and scapose, with three deltoid foliose bracts. The involucres are green or purple-tipped, with eight phyllaries in two series. The four florets are salverform, white or purple, and zygomorphic. Achenes are clavate, pubescent with twin hairs, and have a pappus of five bristles. The species was first published in 1753. The type material for the species has been a subject of discussion, with multiple specimens proposed but none confirmed as the original material.