Chandigarh Forests
Department of Forest & Wildlife
UT Administration
Chandigarh
Department of Forest & Wildlife
|
Division
|
Angiosperms |
|
Class
|
Dicotledons |
|
Subclass
|
Polypetalae |
|
Order |
Thalamiflorae |
|
Family |
Bixaceae |
|
Genus |
Bixa |
|
Species |
orellana |
|
Etymology: |
Biche is a Brazillian name of Bixa orellana a source of anatto dye. |
|
Botanical name:
|
Bixa orellana Linn |
|
Local/Trade names: |
Achiote, Arnatto, Lipistic tree |
|
Conservation status:
|
Cultivated throughout India |
|
Digonestic features: |
Fruits spiny with red pulp. |
|
Description: |
Small evergreen tree, up to 6 m high. Bark brown, smooth. Leaves 7-16 x 5-11 cm, broadly ovate to cordate, undersurface with minute scurfy dots. Flowers showy, pink or purplish – tinged or white. Fruit 3-6 cm long, ovoid, densely but softly spiny. Seeds many in a farinaceous red pulp. |
|
Phenology:
|
Fls.: Sept.-Oct. Frts.: Dec.-Feb. |
|
Distribution:
|
Native of the West Indies; tropical South and Central America. |
|
Where to see it: |
Ornamental Flowering Section. |
|
Uses: |
Seeds yield the Annato dye which was used for colouring silk and cotton, but it is not a fast dye. Now mainly used for colouring foodstuffs, such as butter, ghee, margarine, cheese, chocolate, etc. May also be suitable for floor polishes, shoe polishes, hair oils, etc. |
