Desfontainia is a genus of flowering plants placed currently in the family Columelliaceae, though formerly in Loganiaceae,[2] Potaliaceae (now subsumed in Gentianaceae), or a family of its own, Desfontainiaceae.
The genus was named for the French botanist, René Louiche Desfontaines.[3] It is hardy to −5 °C (23 °F), and requires winter protection in areas with significant frosts.
The best known species, D. spinosa (‘Chilean holly’), is a native of rainforests and mountain slopes in southern Central America and South America, occurring from Costa Rica in the north to certain islands of Tierra del Fuego (shared by Chile and Argentina) in the extreme South, being present also in Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador.[6]
Uses include medicinal / hallucinogenic purposes, a natural dye and as an ornamental evergreen shrub. In cultivation, it will grow slowly (in 10–20 years) to some 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) in height and width, but in the wild it can also take the form of a small tree and reach around 4 m (13 ft).
It has glossy dark green, holly-like leaves, and waxy red tubular flowers, often with yellow tips, and reaching 4 cm (1.6 in) in length. The fruit is a greenish-yellow berry circa 1.5 cm (0.59 in) in diameter and contains around 44 glistening, coffee-brown seeds. It is a calcifuge (i.e. requires a lime-free environment) and will thrive in wetter conditions in the wild than it is sometimes given credit for in the horticultural literature, occurring as it does in bogs and swamps. It is usually a terrestrial plant, but can also grow as an epiphyte.
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