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8. Elephantopus scaber Linn., Sp. PI. 814. 1753. (Fig. 127).
COMPOSITAE
Engl. Elephant's Foot; Sinh. Et-adi; Tarn. Anashovadi; Hindi Gobhi; Sans.
Adhomukha, Anadujivha, Daivi, Darvika, Darvipatrika, Gobhi, Gojivha, Gojivhika, HdapushpL
Kharapatri, Kurasa, Satamutika Vatona.
A biennial or perennial herb with a short, vertical rootstock; leaves simple, mostly radical,
forming a spreading rosette on the ground; leaves 10—29 cm long, 2—5 cm broad, oblong—lanceolate,
attenuate to the base, acute at apex, undulate, shallowly crenate-serrate and notched,
rough with coarse hairs on both sides, ciliate along the margin, veins very prominent beneath,
petioles short, very broad and sheathing, flowering stem 15—60 cm long, stout, rigid, tough,
scabrous with minute prickles and with adpressed white hair, dichotomously branched above
with a small amplexicaul, acute leaf at each bifurcation; flower heads very numerous, sessile,
closely packed forming a large, flat-topped, terminal inflorescence, 1—2.5 cm wide and
surrounded at base by three, large, stiff, broadly ovate, conduplicate, leafy bracts; involucre
bracts 8 in two rows, lanceolate, acuminate, outer ones 4.5 mm long and the inner ones 8 mm
long, scarious; flowers few, pale violet, usually 4 in a head, several such heads crowded
together in each inflorescence, regular, bisexual, all flowers tubular; sepals 5, reduced to hairy
bristles; petals 5, fused into a corolla-tube 6 mm long, segments free and oblong, about 4 mm
long, wide spreading; stamens 5 on the corolla-tube, filaments free, anthers fused round the style;
ovary inferior, 2-carpellary, unilocular with a solitary basal ovule, style much exserted, tapering,
pubescent, arms recurved; fruit a small, 10-ribbed, pubescent achene, 3.5 mm long with a
pappus reduced to 5 bristles.
Flowers most of the year.
Illustrations. Wight, Ic. PI. Ind. Orient, pi. 1086. 1846; Kirtikar and Basu, Indian Med.
Plants, pi. 517. 1933.
Distribution. A weed found throughout India, Ceylon. Malaya, China, Australia,
America and Africa. In Ceylon, it is very common in open ground up to 7000 feet altitude.
India. E. Bengal: Herb. Griffith'3110, Kew Distribution 1862—3. Courtallam, Hooker
f. and T. Thomson. Chittagong, King's Collector 588, 1886. Ceylon. Thwaites CP. 1772. Central
Prov., Peradeniya, Bot. Gard., Alston 1272, March 1927: Ramanayake, April 1953; Horton
Plains, W. Nock, 1886.
Composition. The roots contain a glucoside.
Uses. In India, a decoction of the root is given for urethral discharges, diarrhoea,
dysentery, dysuria and as a cardiac-tonic, while in Malaya the plant is used as an anthelmintic
for roundworms and a decoction of the root for coughs. In Ceylon, the leaves are ground into
a paste with water and applied with bees' honey on septic nails and on wounds caused by bites of
wild animals. In Indo-China, the plant is used as a decoction for increasing the discharge of
urine. In Madagascar, it is considered a diuretic and febrifuge and in the West Indies as a
tonic, diaphoretic and emmenogogue and given for dyspepsia, intermittent fevers and menstrual
derangements. Guerrero records that the plant is used in decoction as a diuretic, febrifuge and
emollient in the Philippine Islands.
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