Elephantopus mollis
species of plant
Elephantopus mollis, common names tobacco weed, and soft elephantsfoot, is a tropical species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae.
Elephantopus mollis is native to South America as far south as Jujuy Province in Argentina, as well as the West Indies, Central America, and Mexico as far north as Tamaulipas and Nuevo León. It is also naturalized in Australia, south-eastern Asia, some Pacific Islands, and tropical Africa. The species is considered a noxious weed some places.
Elephantopus mollis is a coarse perennial herb up to 20 cm (8 inches) tall. Leaves are dark green on the upper side, lighter green on the lower surface, oblanceolate to elliptical, up to 22 cm (9 inches) long. The plant produces arrays of small flower heads, each with only 4 white or pink florets.
Etymology
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.
“Elephantopus mollis” enters the record as species of plant. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Elephantopus, mollis and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 21, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q11126839. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Elephantopus mollis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.