In cultivation in the United Kingdom this plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit[2] (confirmed 2017).

C. parqui is a fast-growing, straggling, woody, semi-evergreen shrub that grows to over 3 metres in height (or more in warmer areas) with one or a few fragile green stems.

[12] Carl Hartwich, in his monumental work of 1911 on recreational drugs Die Menschlichen Genussmittel... ('The Pleasure Drugs of Humankind...'), records the following: On the island of Chiloe, when there is a lack of tobacco, the Cholos Indians replace it with another Solanacea Palguin or Palquin, which they apparently smoked before the first [i.e. tobacco derived from various Nicotiana species] became known.

The plant, Cestrum parqui L'Her., a small tree with lanceolate leaves and yellowish-white flowers, appears to be widespread in South America, it is found throughout Chile and the southern states of Brazil.

[translated from the original German][13]Branches of Cestrum parqui are used to slap patients during shamanic healing ceremonies that utilize the hallucinogenic and anticholinergic plant Latua pubiflora, which are performed by the indigenous Huilliche people of the Los Lagos Region of southern Chile.

[14] Because of its easy dispersal, it is considered to be a noxious weed in Australia, where it is even prohibited for merchandising in New South Wales, as it is a significant hazard to livestock (especially cattle) which may eat it inadvertently or during shortages of other foods, often resulting in death.