The natural title compound, C11H12O4, extracted from the Chilean native tree Aristotelia chilensis (Maqui), is a polymorph of the synthetic E form reported by Xia, Hu & Rao [Acta Cryst. (2004), E60, o913-o914]. Both rotational conformers are identical from a metrical point of view, and only differ in the orientation of the 3,4-dihydroxyphenyl ring with respect to the rest of the molecule, which leads to completely different crystal structure arrangements and packing efficiencies. The reasons behind both reside in the different hydrogen-bonding interactions.