Distribution and habitat: It is a small tree and is widely distributed through out India.

Botany: Ever green small bushy tree

• Leaves: Simple, stipules minute, Petioles long slender, Lamina cordate, glabrous, acuminate
• Inflorescence: Terminal panicles. Flowers purple or pink or white, bisexual.
• Fruit: Capsules, scarlet, ovoid or subglobose softly prickly, bivalved, pulp orange- red, many seeded.
• Seeds: Albuminous.

Properties: Antipyretic, astringent, mosquito-repellent 

Chemical constituents: Bixin, Norbixin, Methylbixin,Tomentosic acid, Bixa ghanene, Bisulphates of Apigenin, Luteolin, Hypolaetin, Ishwarane (in seed oil).

• Seeds: Methyl 9’ Z-apo- 6’- lycopenoate, Apocarotenoid-bixin, Norbixin, Methyl bixin.   
• Leaves:  Bixaghanene (Ishwarane)

Uses: Used against intermittent fevers, gonorrhea and dysentery. Annatto dye used for colouring edible material 

Propagation: Seeds