An herbaceous perennial ranging from one to four feet tall, with a deep taproot. Rosettes are very similar in appearance to dandelion. The mature plants are dark green, with many sparsely leaved aerial branches, giving it a skeleton like appearance. A distinguishing characteristic is the presence of course, downward pointing brown hairs near the stem base. All parts of Rush skeletonweed contain white latex. Yellow flowers are found individually or clusters of two to five. Mature, vigorous plants can produce 1,500 flower heads, with the capability of producing 20,000 seeds. Each seed has a pappus, again similar to Dandelion, capable of carrying seeds on wind currents many miles. Rush skeletonweed also spreads by root shoots making cultivation a major source of spread once it is established. Very aggressive invader in range land and extremely damaging to production agriculture. Losses of native plant habitat and their associated wildlife are well documented in the US. Rush skeletonweed is very expensive to control, this weed can quickly make management costs unbearable.

Huge volume of seed production and high percentage of viable seed plus its ability to reproduce from root shoots gives this weed a huge advantage. The only effective method of control has been from the use of residual herbicides over multiple years, specifically Picloram (Tordon22K). Best results have been achieved by applications in late fall before the ground freezes for the winter, then into the following early spring. Aminopyralid (Milestone) has been used at bud stage with control similar to Tordon. There are several biological controls in use and they are widely distributed however their effectiveness is not satisfactory.
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Modified from Selected Noxious Weeds of Eastern Oregon, Gary Page, Malheur County Weed Inspector.