Escallonia rubra is a spreading shrub usually 0.8 to 1.0 m tall, but can reach a height of 3.6 m.[4] It features glossy, elliptical, serrate evergreen leaves.

The bark is first red and rough-haired, which later turns brown and dotted, and eventually gray and cracked.

The prominent, maroon to red hypanthia are campanulate with acute apices, leading to the common name redclaws.

The shrub occurs on the slopes of the Andes Mountains in southern Chile and Argentina all the way down to Tierra del Fuego, where it grows in scrub and open forest, among other biomes.

Cultivated as a garden and hedging plant, it has become naturalized in western Europe, Oregon in the United States, and New Zealand, and is considered invasive in places.