50 Annatto Dye Plant Lipstick Tree Seeds
Bixa orellana
Tropical Pink Flowers
Annato Dye Plant or Lipstick Tree is often planted as an ornamental in home gardens and public parks, valued for it’s beautiful Ornamentally attractive pink flowers (2″ diameter) that bloom in terminal branched panicles. Each flower has 5 deciduous sepals and five petals. Flowers are followed by bristly spiny fruit in reddish-brown to bright red capsules. Fruits ripen throughout the year in tropical climates. The Annato plant is easily grown when kept warm and in bright light. If grown indoors as a houseplant you can control the height by pruning to desired size. If grown outdoors it must have warmth and bright light all year – it cannot be exposed to cool temperatures. It is an evergreen tropical shrub or small tree that is native to tropical parts of Central and South America. It has been introduced over time to a large number of tropical areas around the world including South East Asia, India and the Philippines. As a shrub, it typically grows to 6-12′ tall, but as a tree will sometimes rise to 20-30′ tall. Pointed, ovate to heart-shaped leaves grow to 3-7″ long. Ornamentally attractive pink flowers bloom in terminal branched panicles. Each flower has 5 deciduous sepals and five petals. Flowers are followed by bristly spiny fruit in reddish-brown to bright red capsules. Fruits ripen throughout the year in tropical climates. Each fruit capsule resembles in appearance the bur of a chestnut tree. The capsule splits open when ripe to reveal seeds in a layer of orange pulp. Annato is the name of a tasteless orange/yellow dye extracted from the pulp surrounding the seeds. This dye was used many years ago by indigenous people for a variety of purposes including body paint, insect repellant, food colorant, inks, dyes, sunscreen, soap additives and fabric colorant. This plant was also reported to have medicinal uses ranging from treatment for fevers to dysentary to cancers. In the modern world, dyes from this plant are still commercially produced for adding yellow color to a number of food products including chorizo, margarine, rice and cheese. Indigenous people still use the dyes for cosmetics (hence the common name of lipstick tree) and hair dyes.
Zones 10-12
Annato Germination:
1) Pour seeds into warm water and let them soak for 7 days. Use a thermos to keep the water warm, and be sure to change water daily.
2) Use a commercial peat seed starting mix and keep the soil temperature at 78-80 degrees F. with a heated propagator mat.
3) Plant the seeds no more than 1/4″ inch deep as light is needed for germination. A grow lamp, or sunny window is best.
4) Cover with plastic to retain a high humidity level. Uncover plastic periodically to keep them moist, not wet. Misting with a spray bottle works the best.
5) Patience is needed as with any tropical, germination is erratic and can be expected anywhere between 30-180 days.
6) After the first ones sprout, don’t toss out the rest as they are still good and only need more time. It is the natural process of nature.
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