Index / Search / Elephantopus carolinianus

§1 Plant

Elephantopus carolinianus Raeusch.

vernacular Carolina elephantsfoot — species · Asteraceae


USDA
ELCA3
GBIF
5395894
Rank
species
Carolina elephantsfoot (Elephantopus carolinianus)
Platephotograph · Michael J. PapayCC BY source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Forb/herb
Duration
Perennial
Group
Dicot
Family
Asteraceae Bercht. & J. Presl
Genus
Elephantopus
§2a

Native status, by region

  • L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b

County-level range

· 324 counties across 11 states/territories
Legend Native · 324 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
Medium
Shade
High
Moisture use
Medium
Fire
Medium
Salinity
None
Anaerobic
None
CaCO₃
Medium
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
-13 °F minimum
Frost-free days
165 min.
Precipitation
32–55 in/yr
pH range
5–7.2
Root depth
10 in min.
Fertility need
Medium
Soil texture
coarse, medium, fine
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Single Crown
Growth rate
Rapid
Lifespan
Moderate
Mature height
2.7 ft
Foliage texture
Coarse
Foliage colour
Dark Green
Porosity (summer)
Moderate
Porosity (winter)
Porous
Flower colour
Purple
Fruit colour
Brown
Fire resistant
No
N fixation
None
Toxicity
None
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Mid Summer
Seed abundance
Medium
Seed begins
Summer
Seed ends
Fall
Spread rate
Moderate
Stratify
No
Seeds / lb
800,000
Propagation
seed
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
No Known Source
Nursery stock
No
Palatable, human
No
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 324 counties across 11 states/territories.

Alabama view state ↗ 15 N
Arkansas view state ↗ 60 N
Delaware view state ↗ 2 N
District of Columbia view state ↗ 1 N
Florida view state ↗ 27 N
Georgia view state ↗ 29 N
Kentucky view state ↗ 74 N
New Jersey view state ↗ 2 N
Pennsylvania view state ↗ 5 N
Virginia view state ↗ 83 N
West Virginia view state ↗ 26 N

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/ELCA3 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/5395894 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T05:06:36Z