Drimys (s.s.) thus comprises four species: D. granadensis, ranging from Mexico to northwest South America; D. brasiliensis Miers in southeast Brazil and on Mount Roraima; D. confertifolia Phil. on the Juan Fernandez Islands; and D. winteri in Chile and Argentina. They are trees or shrubs, with evergreen leaves that are alternate, often irregularly crowded at or near the stem apex, leathery, and fragrant when crushed, with distinctive stomata on the lower surface. Inflorescences are axillary or terminal, umbellate or single-flowered. The flowers are hermaphrodite, pedicellate, with bracts that are early caducous; two (to three) sepals, papery to membranous, fused together to form a calyptra; 4–17(–25) petals, white, their size, shape and number varying considerably across the range; and 15–50(–65) stamens. The fruit is a slightly falcate berry, which may be dark purple or reddish black.

In the reduced genus Drimys, only D. winteri is well known in cultivation. This has proven its horticultural worth over the past two centuries, since its introduction in 1827, as both a foliage and a flowering plant. Its variation is discussed at length by Bean (1981a) and Hogan (2008).