Lipstick Tree is an excetpionally attractive small tree from the Amazon region and Central America with jade-green leaves and heart-shaped fruit. Dazzling pink-red flowers with yellow stamens hang in neat clusters followed by maroon to vivid scarlet 2 inch spiny pods. An extract from the crimson seeds is used as a natural coloring agent in the manufacture of quality cosmetics, including lipstick. Red dye from the seed pods have been used for centuries by Amazon Indians for face and body paint. Bixa orellana is cultivated throughout the tropics as a coloring for cloth, soap, paint and cheese. The seeds are also used in Latin American Cuisine in place of the more expensive saffron for coloring and subtle flavoring in rice, stews, soup and meat and is used medicinally.

The specimen above was photographed near Nicoya, Costa Rica in June, 1999. The specimen in bloom, on the right, was photographed in the Philippines by Dell Johnson.

Winter hardy in the tropical zones 9 - 11, or grow as houseplant or greenhouse specimen elsewhere.