The genus Crinodendron is a small one, containing only four species, the other two (not generally cultivated in the U.K.) being C. tucumanum Lillo, a 25m tree native to Argentina, and the Brazilian C. brasiliense Reitz & L.B.sm.

[4] Crinodendron hookerianum is a shrub or small tree with ash-grey bark reaching up to 8 metres (26 ft) in height and having a trunk up to 30 centimetres (12 in) in diameter.

[citation needed] The plant is somewhat poisonous, its toxicity referable to its containing cucurbitacins,[5] a class of cytotoxic triterpenoids named for their frequent occurrence in genera of the cucumber and gourd family Cucurbitaceae, such as Bryonia.

[8] Crinodendron hookerianum was introduced into cultivation in the U.K. by Cornish plant collector William Lobb for Veitch Nurseries of Exeter in 1848.

[9] Its flowers make it a highly valued ornamental shrub or small tree, and it has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.