COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 415 
WOOLLY ELEPHANT’S FOOT 
Elephdntopus tomentdsus, L. 
Other English names: Tobacco Weed, Devil’s Grandmother. 
Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 
Time of bloom: June to August. 
Seed-time: August to October. 
Range: Virginia to Arkansas, and southward to the Gulf of Mexico. 
Habitat: Rich moist soils; woodlands; tobacco, corn, and cotton 
fields. 
This weed is fond of shade and makes itself a special nuisance in 
tobacco fields, where the tall plants overshadow it, while its broad, 
basal, tufted leaves and deep roots absorb much of the soil’s fertility 
and are difficult to remove without injury to the crop, of which 
the larger, lower leaves are the 
most valuable part, and must be 
guarded asmuchaspossibleagainst 
any mutilation. (Fig. 290.) 
Stem erect, rigid, hairy, one to 
two feet high, simple or with’a 
few forking branches. Lower 
leaves four to ten inches long, 
two to four inches wide, and 
spread flat on the ground; they 
are broadly obovate, blunt- 
pointed, tapering to the base, 
heavily veined, scallop-toothed, 
and softly woolly-hairy all over. 
Simple stems are usually leafless, 
but where forked there is a small, 
sessile, lance-shaped leaf. Heads 
two- to five-flowered, the florets 
all alike, fertile, tubular, five- 
lobed but deeply cleft on the 
inner side, pale purple. Below 
each head are three heart-shaped, 
large, leaf-like, and hairy bracts. 
Achenes oblong, ten-ridged, with 
a pappus of stiff, slender bristles. 
Fic. 290.—Hairy Elephant’s Foot 
(Elephantopus tomentosus). X }. 
