452 
E L E 
E L E 
ii (lead of a common calyx ; in the bofom of thefe is the 
flower, the proper calyx of which confifts of many nar¬ 
row, (harp-pointed, pungent, fcales, and contains three, 
four, or five, florets, very pale purple, tubular, com¬ 
monly divided into five narrow fegnients. Seeds cylin- 
dric-comprefled, crowned with dry white fegnients inftead 
of a pappus. According to Browne, it riles generally 
from half a foot to three or four feet in height; and is 
generally adorned with a great number of flowers, ga¬ 
thered into pretty large heads, at the extremities of the 
branches. The feeds are of an oblong form, each crown¬ 
ed with five little bridles. The common peduncles are 
very long, and terminate the branches; but, at thijjfepa- 
rations of them, there is always a fmaller head growing 
to the (lem, without any fupporter. It is fuppofed to be 
a native of both Indies; Mr. Miller received it from 
feveral parts of America. Browne fays,, it is frequent 
enough on the north fide of the ifland of Jamaica. Vail- 
lant gave this plant the name of elephantopus, becaufe he 
took it to be the fame with the anajchotiadi oftheHortus 
Malabaricus, which figniries the foot-flcp of an elephant. 
The accurate Dillenius, however, is doubtful of this; 
and, perhaps, after all, the Eaft-Indian and Weft-Indian 
plants may be different fpecies. This is a perennial 
plant, and flowers at the end of fuminer, and beginning 
of autumn ; but rarely produces feeds in England. It 
was cultivated in the botanic garden at Chelfea in 1695. 
Browne fays, that it is accounted a good vulnerary, and 
much tiled in confumptive cafes in tlie Eaft Indies. The 
leaves are frequently tifed, inftead ofcarduus benedithis, 
among the inhabitants of the French WefiTndia iHands. 
2. Elephantoptis tomentofus, or woolly-leaved ele¬ 
phant’s foot: leaves ovate, tomentofe. Root-leaves four 
inches long and three broad, having many tranfverfe 
nerves ; they fpread flat on the ground, and from among 
them rifes a Iliff (talk, about a foot high, dividing into 
feveral branches, and terminated by two flowers, which 
make little appearance ; they come out in July, but the 
feeds never ripen in this country. It grows naturally in 
South Carolina; and frequently comes up as a .weed in 
earth fent over thence with other plants. Linnaeus re¬ 
marks, that it is very nearly allied to the preceding. 
3. Elephantopus fpicatus, or (pike-flowered elephant’s 
foot: leaves ovate-lanceolate, ferrate, fcabrous ; bundles 
of flowers felllle, lateral ; Item branched. This gene¬ 
rally rifes to the height of fifteen or twenty inches, fome- 
times more. At firft coming up it has ma% leaves, five 
inches long, and an inch and a half broad where broadelt; 
beginning very narrow, they continue fo for two inches, 
and end in a round point; they are hard, fmooth, dark- 
green, and indented about the edges. From among thefe 
a round, firong, green, (talk rifes, four feet high, with an 
embracing leaf at each joint ; it has branches towards 
the top, ftdnding round at every joint, divided into others, 
which are befet with fmaller leaves; from the axils of 
thefe come out the flowers, without any peduncle, (land¬ 
ing in feveral green leaves; the corollets are white. Lin¬ 
naeus has called.the corollets ligulalc, whereas they are 
plainly tubular, .equally and deeply fivc-cleft; he was, 
-perhaps, led into the mi flake, from the two outmeft feg- 
ments being fometimes glued together. Native of Ja¬ 
maica, Hifpaniola, and Guiana. 
4. Elephantopus anguflifolius, or rough-leaved ele¬ 
phant’s foot : ftem-leaves linear-lanceolate entire, vil- 
]ofe ; flowers glomerate, in fqjlile and peduncled bun¬ 
dles; (lem Ample. Native of Jamaica : Sloane found it 
about Mount Diablo very plentifully. ' 
Propagation and Culture. Thefe plants are propagated 
by feeds, which (liould be fovvn on a hot-bed in the 
fpring; and, when the plants are come up, they muli be 
tranfplanted into pots filled with frelli light earth, and 
plunged into a hot-bed of tanners’ bark, obferving to wa¬ 
ter and fltade them until they have taken root; then you 
(hotild let them have a large (hare of freflt air in warm 
weather, and they will require to be frequently refreflted 
with water. The firfl, having a perennial root, if it is 
planted in a pot, and (heltcred in the winter from froft, 
may be preferved feveral years, and will annually flower; 
but the fecond fort feldom continues longer than two 
years. 
E'LEPHAS, f. [fXs (pa;, Gr. sbn elepli, Heb.] The 
Elephant; in zoology, a genus of quadrupeds belong¬ 
ing to the order of bruta. The characters are thefe : it 
lias no foreteeth in either jaw, and the tufks are very long; 
probofeis or trunk long and prehenfile ; body fomewhat 
naked. Linnaeus deferibes this animal as follows : “The 
mighty elephant inhabits the torrid zone in Afia and ^ 
Africa, in fwampy places, and by the fides of rivers; 
feeds on the leaves and branches of young trees, particu¬ 
larly plantains, eating even the wood ; devours grain vo- 
racioufly; is gregarious, docile, long-lived, fagacious, 
though the brain is fmall; probofeis long, extenfile, con- 
traiTile, furnifhed at the end with a hook, ferving the 
purpofe of a hand, with which it takes its food and drink, 
and which being cut off, the animal dies; is afraid of 
mice, left when afleep they ftiould creep into the trachea; 
urines backwards; copulates like other quadrupeds ; the 
female is gravid a year ; the young fuck the mother with 
the lips; carries a turret on its back, its guider fitting 
upon the neck; moves quickly; fwims dexteroufly : is 
armed for war by the Indians, and was formerly by the 
Romans, with feythes. It is the largeft of all known 
quadrupeds, fometimes weighing 4500 pounds; body ci¬ 
nereous, fometimes reddifh or white, thinly fet with hairs; 
probofeis flat beneath, tip truncate; eyes fmall; tulks, 
Which are only jn the upper jaw, far extended beyond 
the mouth, refemble horns, marked with curled fibres ; 
thefe are the ivory of the (hops, and fometimes weigh 
150 pounds each; ears large, pendulous, dentate; (kin 
thick, callous, almoft impenetrable by mu fleet-balls, and 
yet fenfible of the fling of flies ; teats two, near the bread; 
knees flexible ; neck fhort; hoofs five on each fore-foot, 
four on each hind-foot.” The admeafurements of dif¬ 
ferent naturalifts have afeertained the largeft elephant 
hitherto known, to be as follows : from the front to the 
origin of the tail, fixteen feet long ; from the end of the 
trunk twenty-five feet, and about fourteen feet high. 
The circumference of the neck feventeen feet, and the 
circumference of the.body at the groffeft part twenty-five 
feet; the tail about fix feet long, and two and a half in • 
circumference. The circumference of the legs about fix 
feet. Thefe are the dimenfions of the largeft ever mea- 
fured. But the animal differs in fize in different coun¬ 
tries. The muzzle is very different from that of any 
other quadruped ; it is nothing but the origin of its long * 
trunk which hangs between the two large tulks; the 
mouth appears behind the trunk, which ferves,in place 
of an upper lip, and the under lip terminates in a point. 
The trunk readily performs all the fundtions of a ftrong 
and dexterous arm ; it is about eight feet long, five feet 
and a half in circumference near the mouth, and one foot 
and a half near the extremity : it is a pipe of an irregu¬ 
lar conical figure, and widened at the end : the fuperior 
fide of the trunk is convex, and furrowed tranfverfely ; 
and the. inferior fide is flat, and has two longitudinal 
rows of fmall protuberances refcmb.ling the tentacula of 
the filk-worm. The upper part of the trunk correfponds 
with the extremity of the nofe in other quadrupeds, and 
anfwers the fame intention ; the inferior part ferves as 
an upper lip, including the noftrils at the fame time. - 
For the trunk is a continued canal, divided into two ca¬ 
vities by a^longitudinal partition: thefe cavities afeend 
along the forepart of the upper jaw, where they make a 
turn inward, and defeend into the palate, and then ter¬ 
minate in two feparate orifices; they have ljkewife each 
a feparate orifice at the end of the trunk. At the place 
where thefe cavities make a turn, and before they enter 
into the bones of the head, there is a moveable cartila¬ 
ginous plate fituated in fuch a manner as enables the ani¬ 
mal to (hut the canal, and to prevent the water with 
which 
