Arnatto

Arnatto Care

Bixa Orellana

What is the plant

Annatto is a small but fairly fast-growing evergreen shrub or small tree growing from 2 - 8 metres tall. The bole can be 10 - 30cm in diameter.This is a plant that is very important to the lives of local people, providing as it does a very wide range of foods and materials. It is commonly grown in many areas of the tropics, especially the Americas, as an ornamental and is also often cultivated for the red substance that surrounds the seeds and which is widely used as a dye, food colouring, flavouring and insect repellent

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Lighting

Full Sun

Hardiness zone

min 10a

Difficulty

Easy

How to Care for the Plant

Water
It can withstand droughts of up to 4 months, but thrives best with well distributed rainfall and a dry season for seed ripening
Sunlight
in a sunny position
Soil
An easily grown plant, it succeeds on almost all soil types, preferring a moist, but well-drained neutral or slightly alkaline soil in a sunny position

Disease diagnosis

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Temperature
It prefers a mean annual temperature in the range 28 - 32°c, with a mean maximum temperature of 22 - 27°c and a mean minimum temperature of 18 - 26°c
Additional
Poison: A waxy substance that has paralytic action on mammalian intestinal parasites is present in the seed coat. Bixin extracted from the seed coat is used in India as an insect repellent.
Popularity
86 people already have this plant 22 people have added this plant to their wishlists