![]() |
|
|
||||||||||||
| TopTropicals.com— rare tropical plants for home and garden |
|
TopTropicals.com— rare tropical plants for home and garden | Follow us:
![]() |
| TROPICAL PLANT CATALOG | Printer friendly page |
This catalog is for information only. If you don't see the price - the plant is not for sale. Click on image to enlarge. |
| Bixa orellana Family: Bixaceae Lipstick tree, Annato Origin: tropical South America ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() This erect shrub with large, glossy green, prominently veined leaves that can become a small tree several feet tall. It is grown as a garden ornamental less for its pale pink flowers, which last only one day, than for its highly decorative two-valved seed pods, covered with soft, deep red hairs. The seeds inside are surrounded by orange-red arils, which yield a dye called annato that can be used in small quantities to color lipstick and foods like cheese and margarine; the dried seed pods are also effective in flower arrangements. When used as a hedge or screen, Bixa should be pruned often to encourage bush growth at the bottom of the trunk. |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
©Top Tropicals LLC, 2003 - ©TTmagazine.info, 2007 - Using TopTropicals.com images