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Galinsoga parviflora
Also called Potato weed, Smooth peruvian daisy, Galinsoga Weed, Small Flowered Galinsoga, Yellow Weed, Kew Weed, Small Flower Galinsoga
Gallant soldier is a fast-growing, weedy annual herb in the daisy family, native to tropical America and now widely naturalized as a garden and field weed. It is grown mainly as a wild edible green rather than an ornamental, and it spreads quickly from seed.
Galinsoga parviflora is a species of herbaceous plant in the daisy family Asteraceae. It has several common names including guasca (Colombia), pacpa yuyo, paco yuyo, and waskha (Peru), burrionera (Ecuador), albahaca silvestre and saetilla (Argentina), mielcilla (Costa Rica), piojito (Oaxaca, Mexico), galinsoga (New Zealand), gallant soldier, quickweed, and potato weed (United Kingdom, United States).
The species is native to South America; however, it is widely naturalized in other countries. There are a few records of G. parviflora and G. quadriradiata in Northern Ireland. It has been naturalized elsewhere, including North America and Australasia.
In Colombia it is used as a herb in the soup ajiaco. In Oaxaca, Mexico, it is used as an ingredient in sopa de guías, a soup made from squash vines, fresh corn and wild herbs. It can also be used as an ingredient in leaf salads, although its subtle flavour, reminiscent of artichoke, mostly develops after being cooked. In eastern Africa, the plant is collected from the wild, and its leaves, stem and flowers eaten. It is also dried and ground into powder for use in soups.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Galinsoga parviflora by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
