Plant in full sun to part shade and water occasionally in the summer. It is hardy and evergreen to about 25 degrees F. If it is well established, it should regenerate from the roots if it freezes down to the ground - our plants regenerated completely after the tops froze in 1990 freeze when temperatures dipped to 18° F.

Distictis buccinatoria is native to central to southern Mexico in the states of San Luis Potosi and Jalisco south to Chiapas. where it is usually found in rocky areas or deciduous forests above 3,200 feet. The genus was first described in 1840 by the Swiss botanist Carl Daniel Friedrich Meisner who credited the German botanist Carl (Karl) Friedrich Philipp von Martius with coming up with the name that comes from the Greek words 'dis' meaning "twice" and 'stiktos' meaning "spotted" in reference to the flattened double rows of seeds that appear as spots on the wall of the fruit capsule. The specific epithet comes from the word Latin 'buccinator' meaning a "trumpeter" or "shaped like a curved horn" in reference to the shape of the flowers.

This species has been moved around a bit into different genera within the Bignoniaceae family. It was first described as Pithecoctenium buccinatorium by Alphonse Louis Pierre Pyramus de Candolle in 1845 with this genus name coming from the Greek words 'pithekos' (or Latin 'pitheco') meaning an "ape" or a "monkey" and 'ctenion' meaning a comb in reference to the spiny fruit that could be used as a comb,. It was then renamed as Phaedranthus buccinatorius by British botanist Thomas Miers with the genus name from the Latin word 'phaedr meaning "splendid" and 'anthos meaning flowers and in 1882 as a species in the genus Bignonia by the British botanist William Botting Hemsley and fabric dye and weaving specialist Ethel M. Mairet, with the genus name referencing the plant family, both named for the French statesman, writer, preacher and librarian. It was transferred to the genus Distictis by the American botanist Alwyn H. Gentry in 1973 but its current name, according to Royal Botanic Garden Kew's database, given to it by the Brazilian botanist Lúcia G. Lohmann in 2014 is Amphilophium buccinatorium. It has been cultivated worldwide and was long known in cultivation as Bignonia cherere, Bignonia buccinatoria and for most of time we have grown it since 1981 as Distictis buccinatoria, so we continue to list it under this name until such time as this name change has wider acceptance (or it gets changed again) so not to confuse our customers and staff. We have a large planting of this plant along the fence in front of our sales office. We also grow the closely related Distictis laxiflora (also most currently a species of Amphilophium) and a hybrid between the two called Distictis 'Rivers'. For many years we grew a plant we called Pithecoctenium crucigerum, a lovely yellow flowering vine that graces a trellis around our sales office and it too has been moved into the genus Amphilophium -what a fantastic and attractive genus of vines it is! 

The information about Distictis buccinatoria displayed on this web page is based on our research conducted in the nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also include observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing this plant.