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.

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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