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Elephants foot (Elephantopus scaber)

Tapak liman or elephants foot (Elephantopus scaber) is a plant species in Asteraceae, stems are very short, stiff, rough haired, 30-70 cm high, big and strong taproot, grow wild, sometimes found in large numbers on grass, roadside and dike in the lowlands to altitude of 1,200 m.

E. scaber has a single leaf gathered on the soil surface to form a root rosette. Age ~1 month has 6 leaves, 8-10.5 cm long, 2.5-3.5 cm wide, spathulate, dark green, rounded tip, atternuate base, a white bone in the middle, pinnate vein, surface wavy or flat, haired and wavy or flat margins.

Dlium Elephants foot (Elephantopus scaber)


The flower stems come out from the middle of the rosette with a height of 30-70 cm, cylindrical, stiff and wiry, long and dense white hair, branched and grooved. Leaves on the flower stems are small, 3-9 cm long and 1-3 cm wide.

Compound flower shaped hump, sitting at the end of the stem, purple to white, has three protective leaves in the shape of a triangle cup. A single flower consists of a white tube and four crowns and are lancet shaped. Hard fruit, tubular, 1 cm long, at the end has 4-6 straight and white hair.

Tapak liman contains active chemical compounds including epiprielinol, lupeol, stiqmasterol, triacontan-l-ol, dotriacontan-l-ol, lupeol acetate, deoxyelephantopin and isodeozyelephantopin. The flowers contain luteolin-7-glucoside.

E. scaber is widely used as an anticancer and antitumor, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antifungal, hepatoprotective, anticoagulant, antidiarrheal, antiviral, antidiabetic, antioxidant, antiulcer, wound healing and anti-asthma.





Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Subfamily: Cichorioideae
Tribe: Vernonieae
Subtribe: Elephantopinae
Genus: Elephantopus
Species: Elephantopus scaber
Varieties: Elephantopus scaber var. argenteus, Elephantopus scaber var. plurisetus

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