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Crinodendron hookerianum
Also called Chilean Lanterntree, Lanterntree
Chilean lantern tree is an evergreen shrub or small tree from the cool, wet forests of southern Chile, valued for its pinkish-red bell flowers. It does best in moist, acid, humus-rich soil in partial shade and sheltered from cold, drying winds.
Crinodendron hookerianum, known as the Chilean lantern tree, is an evergreen tree in the family Elaeocarpaceae. It is endemic to Chile, where it occurs from Cautin to Palena (38 to 43°S). It grows near streams and in very humid and shady places, and is often found in Valdivian temperate forests.
Crinodendron hookerianum was introduced into cultivation in the U.K. by Cornish plant collector William Lobb for Veitch Nurseries of Exeter in 1848. Its flowers make it a highly valued ornamental shrub or small tree, and it has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. It attains maximum dimensions in cultivation approximately 8m in height by 5m in spread.
Crinodendron hookerianum is best grown in fertile, moist but well-drained, humus-rich, acid soil in partial shade (in full sun only if the roots can be kept cool and shaded) in a sheltered woodland garden or against a south- or west-facing wall where it is sheltered from cold, drying winds. It is hardy to −7 °C (19 °F), but young growth and flower buds are susceptible to damage by hard frosts – the latter because the small flower buds are formed in autumn, ripening during winter and spring to flower in the following summer.
The plant is somewhat poisonous, its toxicity referable to its containing cucurbitacins, a class of cytotoxic triterpenoids named for their frequent occurrence in genera of the cucumber and gourd family Cucurbitaceae, such as Bryonia. Contact with the sap of plants containing high levels of cucurbitacins can lead to skin inflammation and blistering, while consumption of plant material containing such compounds can lead to gastrointestinal irritation with vomiting and bloody diarrhoea, tachycardia and damage to the liver (hepatotoxicity) and kidneys (among other symptoms), the poisoning sometimes proving fatal. C. hookerianum is used in the folk medicine of Chile as an emmenagogue and abortifacient and the leaves and bark are considered to have emetic properties. Although toxic, the shrub is also regarded as "balsamic" a rather vague designation referable to its medicinal value and aromatic constituents (although see also balsam).
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Crinodendron hookerianum 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.
