Family:  Achiote (Bixaceae)

Hardiness:  Protect from frost.

(Lipstick Tree, Mzingefuri) Bushy evergreen tree to 30 feet, native to tropical america.  Protect from frost.  Highly ornamental, with showy flowers giving way to the orange-red pods.  The pulverized, brick-red seeds are the source of bixin, a dye universally employed as a harmless coloring agent for dairy products and other foods.  Aphrodisiac and antiinflammatory.  Body paint.  These bushy shrubs to small trees are commonly used in the subtropics along roadways, planted in a line as a living, flowering fence.  They make a handsome accent wherever there is room for their spreading form–in yards, in town and in the country.  In the temperate north, they may be grown as a potted plant, taken indoors for the winter.  Plant prefers full sun to part shade.  Potted plants currently in gallons.  On receipt, pot plants up to 3-gallon pots or transplant outdoors (Zones 10-12), in which case space plants 15 feet apart.

Potted Plant, gallon size, Certified Organically Grown