Two adjacent populations of Drimys winteri (Forst.) were found on the Andean western slopes of Parral. The fact that they were clearly different and had different habitat gave rise to the question concerning their taxonomy; the hypothesis of a possible genecological differentiation between both populations was stated. Research studies on the morphological and chemical characteristics as well as on the ecophysiological behaviour of both common canelo populations and variant canelo populations were carried out.
These results have allowed the verification of the existence of two ecotypes in the Drimys winteri var. chilensis species.