With its highly branched and delicate shoots, rush skeletonweed looks more like a shrub than a herbaceous plant.
It bears a distant resemblance to shrub-like broom species, but Chondrilla juncea is not related to them.
The fact that rush skeletonweed is a perennial herb is easy to see in winter, when only the basal leaves are visible. The finely branched shoots die off as soon as the seeds have been dispersed by the wind.
The basal leaves not only resemble those of dandelions, but as members of the large Asteraceae family, Chondrilla species are related to dandelions. And, incidentally, also to chicory, radicchio, and garden lettuce (Lactuca).
Back to rush skeletonweed, which belongs to the group of compass plants. These mostly unrelated plants orient their leaves or shoots so that their surfaces are exposed to as little direct sunlight as possible. They often face north-south, much like a natural compass. This allows them to survive even in habitats with intense sunlight.
Chondrilla juncea originates from the Mediterranean region and occurs as a neophyte in some Australian and North American regions.
Rush skeletonweed can grow over a meter high and almost as wide, but often does not reach such heights in urban or disturbed locations. The flowering period in Central Europe lasts from June to October. It grows on roadsides, verges, in weed patches, on dry slopes, and in other locations.
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