Elephantopus

Elephantopus
Elephantopus scaber in India
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Embryophytes
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Spermatophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Asteraceae
Subfamily:	Vernonioideae
Tribe:	Vernonieae
Genus:	Elephantopus L.
Type species
Elephantopus scaber L.1
Synonyms2
Elephantosis Less. Anaschovadi Adans. Elephantopsis (Sch.Bip.) C.F.Baker Chaetospira S.F.Blake

Elephantopus is a genus of perennial plants in the daisy family (Asteraceae).³⁴⁵

The genus is widespread over much of Africa, southern Asia, Australia, and the Americas.² Several species are native to the southeastern United States,⁶⁷ and at least one is native to India and the Himalayas.⁸⁹¹⁰

Elephantopus scaber is a traditional medicine¹¹ and other species, including E. mollis¹² and E. carolinianus,¹³ have also been investigated for medicinal properties. Elephantopus scaber contains elephantopin which is a germacranolide sesquiterpene lactone containing two lactone rings and an epoxide functional group.¹⁴

The genus name Elephantopus comes from the Greek words "elephantos" (elephant) and "pous" (foot). The term likely refers to the large basal leaves of some members of the genus.¹⁵

Accepted species²

• Elephantopus angolensis O.Hoffm. - Angola
• Elephantopus arenarius Britton & P.Wilson ex Britton - Cuba
• Elephantopus arenosus Krasch. - Brazil
• Elephantopus biflorus (Less.) Sch.Bip. - Brazil
• Elephantopus carolinianus Raeusch.- southeastern + south-central United States; Cuba, Puerto Rico
• Elephantopus dilatatus Gleason - Costa Rica, Panama
• Elephantopus elatus Bertol. - southeastern United States
• Elephantopus elongatus Gardner- Brazil
• Elephantopus hirtiflorus DC. - Brazil, Venezuela
• Elephantopus mendoncae Philipson - Angola
• Elephantopus micropappus Less.- Brazil
• Elephantopus mollis Kunth native to Latin America + West Indies; widely naturalized in tropics of Africa, Asia, Australia, various islands
• Elephantopus multisetus O.Hoffm. ex T.Durand & De Wild. - Angola, Zaire, Tanzania
• Elephantopus nudatus A.Gray - southeastern + south-central United States, east Texas to Maryland
• Elephantopus nudicaulis Poir. - Mexico
• Elephantopus palustris Gardner - Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay
• Elephantopus piauiensis R.Barros & Semir - Brazil
• Elephantopus pratensis C.Wright - Cuba
• Elephantopus racemosus Gardner- Brazil
• Elephantopus riparius Gardner- Brazil
• Elephantopus scaber L.- China, India, southeast Asia, northern Australia; naturalized in Africa, Madagascar, Latin America
• Elephantopus senegalensis (Klatt) Oliv. & Hiern- tropical Africa
• Elephantopus tomentosus L. - southern United States
• Elephantopus vernonioides S. Moore - Africa
• Elephantopus virgatus Desv. ex Ham. - Guyana
• Elephantopus welwitschii Hiern - Africa

• Orthopappus angustifolius (Sw.) Gleason (as Elephantopus angustifolius Sw.)

References

References

1. Baker, C. F. 1902. A revision of the Elephantopeae--1. Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis 12: 43-56 in English
2. Flann, C (ed) 2009+ Global Compositae Checklist
3. Linnaeus, Carl von. 1753. Species Plantarum 2: 814 in Latin
4. Baker, C. F. 1902. A revision of the Elephantopeae--1. Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis 12: plate IX line drawings of fruits of several species of Elephantopus and Pseudelephantopus (captions on page 56)
5. Clonts, J. A. 1972. A Revision of the Genus Elephantopus Including Orthopappus and Pseudelephantopus (Compositae). Ph.D. thesis. Mississippi State University.
6. "Elephantopus L." United States Department of Agriculture plants profile.
7. Flora of North America, Elephant’s foot, Elephantopus Linnaeus
8. Press, J.R.; Shrestha, K.K. & Sutton, D.A. "Elephantopus L." Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal. Retrieved 2009-06-15.
9. Flora of China Vol. 20-21 Page 368 地胆草属 di dan cao shu Elephantopus Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 814. 1753.
10. Forzza, R. C. 2010. Lista de espécies Flora do Brasil "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-09-06. Retrieved 2015-08-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link). Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro
11. Poli, A; Nicolau, M; Simoes, Cm; Nicolau, Rm; Zanin, M (August 1992). "Preliminary pharmacologic evaluation of crude whole plant extracts of Elephantopus scaber. Part I: in vivo studies". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 37 (1): 71–6. doi:10.1016/0378-8741(92)90005-C. ISSN 0378-8741. PMID 1453704.
12. Tabopda, Tk; Liu, J; Ngadjui, Bt; Luu, B (Apr 2007). "Cytotoxic triterpene and sesquiterpene lactones from Elephantopus mollis and induction of apoptosis in neuroblastoma cells". Planta Medica. 73 (4): 376–80. doi:10.1055/s-2007-967132. ISSN 0032-0943. PMID 17366372.
13. Lee, Kh; Cowherd, Cm; Wolo, Mt (September 1975). "Antitumor agents. XV: Deoxyelephantopin, an antitumor principle from Elephantopus carolinianus Willd". Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. 64 (9): 1572–3. doi:10.1002/jps.2600640938. ISSN 0022-3549. PMID 1185584.
14. Rajkapoor B, Jayakar B, Anandan R (Jan–Feb 2002). "Antitumor activity of Elephantopus scaber linn against Dalton's ascitis lymphoma". Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. 64 (1): 71–3.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
15. "Elephantopus - FNA". floranorthamerica.org.

Media related to Elephantopus at Wikimedia Commons