Summary Chromolaena odorata is one of the world's worst tropical weeds, and it can be found in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan and Yunnan provinces in China. Genetic variation of 27 C. odorata populations sampled from across its invasive range in China was investigated using inter‐simple sequence repeats (ISSR) analysis. All populations exhibited low levels of genetic variation. On average, 2.35% of the ISSR loci were polymorphic, total genetic diversity (HT) was 0.0406 and Shannon's information index (Hsp) was 0.0623. High genetic identities (I) between populations (0.9687 ± 0.01204) indicated low genetic differentiation. A frequent founder effect was interpreted as the main cause of the genetic structure observed in C. odorata.

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