A deciduous shrub 4 to 6 ft high, forming a dense mass of overlaying branches; young shoots pale, more or less downy or scurfy. Leaves obovate or oblanceolate, 1⁄2 to 2 in. long, 1⁄8 to 1⁄2 in. wide, tapered to the base, more abruptly towards the apex, densely arranged, ciliate, rather fleshy. The larger-sized leaves are only on young vigorous sucker-growths; most of the leaves are less than 1 in. long. Flowers solitary or in pairs in the leaf-axils, 1⁄2 in. diameter; corolla funnel-shaped, deeply five-lobed (the lobes longer than the tube), purple and yellowish white; calyx bell-shaped, the triangular-pointed lobes ciliate; stamens hairy at the base. Fruits orange-red, globular, 1⁄3 in. in diameter.
L. chilense, in the broad sense, is a variable species found in the drier and warmer parts of Chile and Argentina. The description given is of a comparatively broad-leaved and robust form of the species described under the name L. grevilleanum, which proved hardy at Kew.