Drimys J.R. Forst. & G. Forst.

Drimys is a genus of evergreen trees and shrubs currently including seven species found in tropical and temperate regions of the Americas, from Tierra del Fuego to Mexico. The plants typically exhibit a compact, bushy growth habit, but some species can grow into medium-sized trees. Drimys were the first plants in the Winteraceae family to be described, beginning with Drimys winteri in South America and Drimys axillaris (now Pseudowintera axillaris) in New Zealand. Over time the wider concept of the genus was split and Drimys was restricted to plants in the Americas (see Tasmannia and Pseudowintera for more detail).

Like other genera in the Winteraceae, Drimys lacks xylem vessels. Long assumed to be ancestral and inherited, the characteristic of wood structure based on tracheids is now thought to be derived, in other words, an evolutionary U-turn. Seven species are accepted in Drimys, in mostly distinct distributions: D. granadensis (northwest South America to Mexico), D. brasiliensis (eastern and southeastern Brazil), D. angustifolia (southern Brazil), D. roraimensis (Guyana Highlands of northwestern Brazil, southeastern Venezuela, and Guyana), D. winteri (central and southern Chile and adjacent Argentina), D. andina (central Chile and adjacent Argentina) and D. confertifolia (Juan Fernández Islands, Chile).

Drimys winteri has proven its horticultural worth over the past two centuries, since its introduction in 1827, as both a foliage and a flowering plant. More recently, D. andina and D. granadensis have been introduced to gardens in our study area. These three species are found in higher altitudes and latitudes, hence more likely to survive in temperate gardens. Interestingly, it has been found that, compared to other species of Drimys, these have narrower, shorter tracheids, with a warty layer (vesturing) on the inside surface. Carlquist (1988) hypothesised that these characteristics were adaptations to freezing temperatures: vesturing may serve to sustain high tensions in water columns during times when transpiration increases but groundwater is unavailable due to freezing.

Drimys is the type genus of the Winteraceae family, which takes its name from Wintera, an illegitimate name once applied to Drimys (see details under D. winteri). Of the four other genera in Winteraceae, two are in cultivation: Tasmannia and Pseudowintera; Zygogynum is restricted to New Guinea and New Caledonia, and Takhtajania includes a single species, T. perrieri, endemic to Madagascar.

The Forsters included in their publication of Drimys (1776) the derivation of their name. They took it from ancient Greek δριμύς, meaning acrid, piercing, pungent, or, as in the translation they provided in Latin, acri gustu, having a bitter taste, ‘since the bark of both species is very sharp and pungent.’ The word has proved unpalatable to other languages, and it has no etymological descendants beyond modern Greek.

The common name in Spanish for many of these species is canelo, derived from canela, which means ‘cinnamon’, applied to both Cinnamomum sp. and Canella winterana. Changing the gender from feminine to masculine in canelo serves to distinguish trees of the genus Drimys from the other two. Canela derives ultimately from Latin cannella, diminutive of canna (‘reed, cane’) (wiktionary.org 2025).