Vestia foetida was described by Johann Centurius Hoffmannsegg, the description being published in his Verzeichniss der Pflanzenkulturen in den Grafl.

[8] A yellow dye has been extracted from the leaves and stems, and infusions of the plant have been used in the folk medicine of Chile (with due recognition of the toxicity of the medication) to treat dysentery and appendicitis.

[10] [Note: there is a page 'Ernesto Wilhelm de Moesbach' on Wikipédia España] Sanchez (2001), quoting several previous authors, supplies not only a rationale for the use of Vestia in medicinal baths (- as a type of topical analgesic for arthritic pain), but also an evocative definition of the folk ailment chavalongo: Huevil: Febrifugal plant.

[11]A comparison of a cluster Chilean vernacular names used for Vestia foetida, Cestrum parqui and even the unrelated, Apocynaceous Cynanchum lancifolium (= Diplolepis pachyphylla) - as recorded by Gusinde, Mösbach and Sanchez - while revealing a measure of potential confusion in identification of medicinal species in the literature, demonstrate nonetheless a native Chilean grasp of similarity of characteristics and effects.

[12] A scientific paper of 2005 noted that V. foetida has caused fatalities in sheep, goats and cattle which had browsed its foliage, death being attributable to hepatotoxic compounds present in the plant.

[3] Vestia foetida exhibited modest activity in a recent investigation into the insecticidal properties of some plant species native to Chile.

[13] Toxic compounds detected in the plant include quercetin-3-diglucoside, isoquercetin, an indole alkaloid belonging to the β-carboline group[3][14] and the phytosteroid sapogenin diosgenin - the last-mentioned compound better-known as a constituent of certain species belonging to the yam genus Dioscorea, although occurring also in the Solanaceous genus Cestrum.