Bixa L.

Small trees or erect shrubs. Leaves spirally arranged, simple, petioled, entire, palmatinerved, densely red-dotted. Stipules small, very caducous. Flowers in terminal corymbs or panicles, actinomorphic, rather large. Pedicel with 5-6 apical glands. Sepals 4-5, free, imbricate in bud, falling off as soon as the flower expands. Petals 4-7, free, imbricate in bud. Stamens numerous, inserted on an annular hypogynous disk; filaments thin, free; anthers horseshoe-shaped, passing over the top of the filament and with both ends closely applied to it, 2-celled; cells opening in the middle (on the top of the filament) by short slits which unite into a spuriously apical pore. Ovary superior, usually bristly, 1-celled, with 2 opposite parietal slightly intruding placentas. Style 1, sinuous, rather thick; stigma 2-dentate. Ovules very numerous. Capsule compressed contrary to the placentas, usually softly prickly, rarely smooth, loculicidally bivalved; endocarp membranous, separating from the valves. Seeds numerous, obovoid, angular; testa fleshy, very densely studded with small, round, red, sessile glands; albumen well-developed, not oil-containing; embryo rather large.

In Java specially in the W. and Central parts, up to ca 2000 m, in living fences and along road-sides, sometimes on premises, rarely in small plantations.

Uses. Formerly frequently used as a wind-break in tea plantations but as such fallen into disuse because of its liability to be attacked by Helopeltis.The form mostly cultivated in Indonesia is the inferior one with broad-topped shortly acuminate fruit (see above); the much superior variety with elongate-ovoid, long-acuminate fruits has been collected only here and there in Java. Both forms are at present economically unimportant. In the Botanic Gardens and Economic Gardens at Bogor many forms are cultivated with different fruit-shapes, in which the late Dr EYMA could distinguish the forms depicted in Fig. 2.A dye (anatto) is prepared from the outer coat of the seeds. This dye was formerly used for the colouring of fabrics but this use has gone out as the colour is not durable; anatto has since long been superseded by aniline dyes. At present it is still used for the colouring of butter and cheese. The leaves are sometimes used medicinally for treating fever in children.