An evergreen shrub or small tree up to 10 or 30 ft high, sometimes more, of a stiff, bushy growth; young wood felted with grey down. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, pointed; 11⁄2 to 5 in. long, 1⁄2 to 11⁄4 in. wide; coarsely toothed except towards the tapering base, dark green above and downy on the midrib, paler beneath and downy on the midrib and chief veins, stiff and hard in texture; stalk 1⁄3 in. or less long, downy. Flowers produced singly from the terminal leaf-axils each on a stout, stiff, downward-pointing stalk 2 to 3 in. long. Corolla urn-shaped, 1 to 11⁄4 in. long, rich crimson, very fleshy, grooved, toothed at the narrow mouth; calyx downy. Bot. Mag., t. 7160.
Native of Chile in the provinces of Valdivia and Llanquihue and on the Island of Chiloe; introduced by William Lobb for Messrs Veitch in 1848, and for the same firm by Pearce about ten years later. It thrives best in such places as the Isle of Wight, Cornwall, Ireland, and the west of Scotland, and where it succeeds it is one of the most attractive of all shrubs. At Kilmacurragh, Co. Wicklow, it was 26 ft high. Perhaps the most remarkable specimen in the British Isles is at Brodick in the Isle of Arran. Planted around 1930, it measured 38 ft in height in 1965 and is still growing. At Mount Usher in Co. Wicklow there is an example 18 ft high. A plant on the east wall of the office of the National Pinetum, Bedgebury, Kent, has grown and flowered for years, in spite of setbacks in cold winters. It was planted by the late William Dallimore about 1927.
This species has the curious habit of pushing out its flower-stalks in autumn, but the flowers do not open until the following May. It likes a partially shaded spot; the leaves are often ‘scorched’ and brown at the margins when the plant stands fully exposed to sunshine or wind. It is better known in gardens as Tricuspidaria lanceolata, but the generic name Crinodendron has priority. It has also been grown as “T. dependens”, which is a synonym of C. patagua.
