[6][7][8] Common names include Siam weed, rouge plant, Christmas bush, jack in the box,[9] devil weed, common floss flower, hagunoy (Cebuano language), rompe saragüey (Spanish), Abani di egwu or Nsiibilibe (Igbo language), ewé Akíntọ́lá (Yorùbá) and triffid.

[11] It was earlier taxonomically classified under the genus Eupatorium, but is now considered more closely related to other genera in the tribe Eupatorieae.

[12] Chromolaena odorata is considered an invasive weed of field crops and natural environments in its introduced range.

[16] A pilot study in the Ashanti region of Ghana introduced the moth Pareuchaetes pseudoinsulata to some effect.

[18] The gall forming tephritid fly Cecidochares connexa was introduced into Guam from Indonesia in 1998 and is widespread across the island.

Chromolaena odorata forms galls around the fly larvae that become a nutrient sink that diverts energy away from plant growth to provide nutritive tissue along the walls of the larval chamber.

[19] In the nineteenth century Chromolaena odorata escaped from the botanical gardens at Dacca (India), Java (Indonesia) and Peradeniya (Sri Lanka).

C. odorata is commonly used in Latin America as an incense to spiritually cleanse a household, especially in Santería in Cuba and Puerto Rico.