''Chondrilla'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

. They are native to Eurasia, and certain taxa are known as

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...

outside their native range.''Chondrilla''.
Flora of North America. The best known of these is rush skeletonweed (''Chondrilla juncea''), a noxious weed established in Africa, Australia, and the Americas. ''Chondrilla'' species produce one or more stems up to 1.5 meters tall from a

taproot A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproo ...

which can be very deep and highly branched. The basal and lower stem leaves are divided and toothed, and are borne on winged petioles. The upper leaf blades are smaller and simple. The cylindrical flower heads are often solitary but may grow in clusters, and are located along the branches and at the ends. They contain several yellow florets that soon wither. The fruit is a cylindrical, beaked, ribbed cypsela with a pappus of many white bristles. This genus is closely related to the

dandelions ''Taraxacum'' () is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, which consists of species commonly known as dandelions. The scientific and hobby study of the genus is known as taraxacology. The genus is native to Eurasia and Nor ...

of genus ''Taraxacum''. Plants of both genera undergo apomixis, producing fertile seeds via asexual reproduction.Van Dijk, P. J. (2003)
Ecological and evolutionary opportunities of apomixis: insights from ''Taraxacum'' and ''Chondrilla''.
''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences'' 358(1434), 1113-21. Confusingly, the name '' Chondrilla'' is shared by a genus of

Demosponge Demosponges (Demospongiae) are the most diverse class in the phylum Porifera. They include 76.2% of all species of sponges with nearly 8,800 species worldwide (World Porifera Database). They are sponges with a soft body that covers a har ...

. ; Species''Chondrilla''.
The Plant List.

References

* * Asteraceae genera Cichorieae {{Cichorieae-stub