Galinsoga parviflora is a herb

Herb

Except in botanical usage, an herb is "any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume" or "a part of such a plant as used in cooking"...

aceous plant in the Asteraceae

Asteraceae

The Asteraceae or Compositae , is an exceedingly large and widespread family of vascular plants. The group has more than 22,750 currently accepted species, spread across 1620 genera and 12 subfamilies...

 (daisy) family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

. It has several common names including Guasca (Colombia), Mielcilla (Costa Rica), Galinsoga (NZ), gallant soldier (USA).

It is also known by the taxonomic name Tridax parviflora

Galinsoga parviflora was brought from Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

 to Kew Gardens in 1796, and later escaped to the wild in Britain. In Britain its name Galinsoga is sometimes popularly rendered as "gallant soldiers", and then sometimes altered to "soldiers of the Queen".

In Colombia it is used as a spice herb in the soup Ajiaco

Ajiaco

Ajiaco is a Colombian potato soup, and is eaten in Colombia.The soup is typically served with table cream, capers and avocado all mixed in just before eating in the proportions each individual prefers. Ajiaco is so heavy that it is usually considered a full meal...

. It can also be used as an ingredient in leaf salads.

In much of the world it is considered a weed

Treatment

Galinsoga is extremely effective in treatment of wounds. The juice of galinsoga helps blood to coagulate faster and also acts as an antibiotic agent. Some people claim that usage of galinsoga helps wounds heal faster. Even though galinsoga is considered a weed, it is an extremely useful herb.