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Rhodochiton is a genus of flowering plants within the family Plantaginaceae, native to southern Mexico and neighbouring Guatemala. They climb by means of twining leaf stalks. One of the three species, Rhodochiton atrosanguineus, the purple bell vine, is grown as an ornamental plant. All three species are sometimes included in Lophospermum.
Rhodochiton atrosanguineus was in cultivation before 1828, when seeds were given to Zuccarini by Baron Karwinski. In 1836, Joseph Paxton included it in a "select list of ornamental creepers". In frost-free areas it is perennial; in areas prone to winter frosts it can either be grown under glass as a perennial or outside as an annual, propagated from seed. In such conditions, it reaches a height of about 1.5–2.5 m (5–8 ft).
The three species of Rhodochiton have very local distributions: in the Sierra Madre del Sur mountains, Mexico; northern Oaxaca, Mexico; and Chiapas, Mexico and neighbouring Guatemala. All grow in montane cloud forests, at altitudes of between 1,300 and 3,500 metres (4,300 and 11,500 ft). Elisens described their habitats as "relatively inaccessible".
Purple Bell Vine · Rhodochiton hintonii · Rhodochiton nubicola
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Rhodochiton by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
