Soft Elephant's Foot

Elephantopus mollis

Also known as Elephant's Foot, Tobacco Weed, Curadiente

At a glance

Family

Asteraceae (the daisy family)

Type

Perennial herbaceous wildflower

Parts used

Leaves, occasionally the root

Size

1 to 3 feet tall, rising from a low, ground-hugging rosette of large basal leaves

Bloom

Small pale lavender to purple flower heads clustered inside triangular green bracts, late summer into fall, or nearly year round in the tropics

Habitat

Disturbed ground, roadsides, pastures, and forest edges across tropical and subtropical regions

Acquisition

Forage

This plant in HerbSense

Key benefits

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Traditionally used for fevers

Historically applied to skin sores

Folk remedy for stomach upset

Valued as a village dooryard plant

Traditional uses

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Across the tropical Americas, West Africa, and parts of Southeast Asia, Elephantopus mollis has grown as a familiar roadside and dooryard plant, and local healers have traditionally turned to its broad, felted leaves for fevers, coughs, and digestive upset. In West African traditions, a leaf decoction was passed down as a wash for cuts and skin sores, while communities in South America used the plant in similar ways to ease minor wounds and general malaise. Because it spreads so readily along footpaths and cleared land, it earned a reputation as a remedy that was always close at hand. Its close cousin, Elephantopus scaber, carries a longer written history in Ayurvedic and Chinese herbal traditions, and the two plants have often been used interchangeably by healers who encountered whichever grew nearby.

How to grow & use it

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Pairs well with

✦Lemongrass
✦Guava leaf
✦Bitter leaf (Vernonia)

Substitutes

✦Elephantopus scaber
✦Vernonia amygdalina

Choose it when

“For the humble roadside leaf that has quietly walked beside village healers for generations.”

Did you know?

The genus name Elephantopus comes straight from the Greek for elephant's foot, a nod to the plant's broad, thick, low-lying leaves that spread across the ground like a great footprint pressed into the soil.

Safety

This plant contains compounds that are cytotoxic in concentrated extract form, so it should not be self-prepared as a tincture or extract. As a daisy-family plant it may trigger allergic reactions in those sensitive to ragweed, and it should be avoided during pregnancy and breastfeeding.