Atsuete
Bixa orellana · Annatto
- Names in the 1901 book
- Atsuiti, Achuiti, Tag.; Achiote, Achuete, Sp.-Fil.; Annatto, Eng.
- Names in the 1985 book
- English: Annatto; Tagalog: Atsuete; Ilocano: Asuite; Visayan: Sutis
- Colours
- flowerpink, whitefruitred
- Native range
- Tropical Americas
- Family
- Bixaceae, filed in the book under Bixineæ
- Printed in 1901 as
- Bixa Orellana, L.
- Printed in 1985 as
- Biva orillana Linon
- Sources
- Page 32 on Project Gutenberg · Healing Wonders of Herbs (1985), page 71 · Wikipedia
The plant today
Bixa orellana, also known as achiote, is a shrub or small tree native to Mexico and Central and South America. Bixa orellana is grown in many countries worldwide. The plant is best known as the source of annatto, a natural orange-red condiment (also called achiote or bijol) obtained from the waxy arils that cover its seeds. The ground seeds are widely used in traditional dishes in Central and South America, Mexico, and the Caribbean, such as cochinita pibil, chicken in achiote, caldo de olla, and nacatamal.
Excerpt from “Bixa orellana” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sa Tagalog
Ang atsuwete (Bixa orellana) ay isang palumpong o maliit na puno mula sa rehiyong tropikal ng kontinente ng Amerika. Nagmula ang pangalan nito sa isang salitang Nahuatl: ang achiotl, na nangangahulugang "palumpong". Kilala rin ito sa katawagang aploppas, at sa katawagang Tupi na urucu. Itinatanim ito roon at maging sa Timog-Silangang Asya, kung saan dinala ito ng mga Kastila noong ika-17 dantaon.
Sipi mula sa “Atsuwete” sa Tagalog Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 215 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 29 provinces, most often Zamboanga del Norte (49), Davao del Sur (9), Batangas (7), Iloilo (6), Bohol (4), Laguna (4), Bataan (3), Davao Oriental (3), and 21 more.
Counts from GBIF occurrence records, October 2026. They include planted trees and garden plants, and a province with no records may only lack collectors.
What the 1901 book says
A historical record, quoted as printed. Doses and remedies here are not medical advice.
Uses
The principal use of the seeds is in cookery and everybody knows the yellow color which Filipino cooks impart to almost all their dishes. In medicine the fine powder that covers the seeds is used as a hæmostatic and internally as a stomachic. On account of the astringent qualities of the coloring matter it is used in some countries to treat dysentery, a fact which suggests its possible therapeutic or rather hygienic usefulness as a condiment. It seems to effect a cure in dysentery in the same manner as ipecac.
In India, Brazil and the Antilles the natives make a sort of paste of achuete known under the name of rocu. There is a hard, odorless form of rocu and another soft, unctuous, of a delicate red color and an odor rendered highly disagreeable by the urine added to it to keep it soft. Rocu is the preparation of achuete that has been subjected to chemical analysis. Its composition is as follows: Two coloring matters, bixin (C28H34O5), of a red color, resinous, soluble in alcohol, ether, alkaline solutions and benzine, crystallizing in microscopic laminæ, quadrangular, red, of a metallic violet lustre; orellin, yellow in color, soluble in alcohol and in water.
Botanical description
A well-known tree growing to a height of 5–7 meters, with leaves alternate, simple, oval, heart-shaped at the base, sharply pointed, glabrous, short petioles. Flowers in panicles. Calyx, 5 rounded sepals, tuberculate at the base, imbricated, caducous. Corolla of 5 rose-colored petals. Stamens very numerous, free, inserted on the receptacle. Capsule round, dark red, bristling with stout hairs of the same color. The seeds are covered with a fine, yellowish-red powder.
What the 1985 book uses it for
A record of home remedies from 1985, with the book's amounts and doses reworded. It is not medical advice.
- BurnsCooled leaf decoction as a soak.Boil 10 washed leaves in 5 glasses of water and let it cool. Soak the burn for 10 minutes once a day. For small burns only.Page 17
The printed "Biva orillana Linon" is a misprint for Bixa orellana Linn.
Summarised from Herminia de Guzman-Ladion, Healing Wonders of Herbs (Manila: Philippine Publishing House, 1985), where this plant is shown as “Atsuete” on page 71. The book is in copyright, so its wording and photographs are not reproduced. Amounts are the book's, restated.
Recent research
The most cited papers since 2022 that name this plant in the title, pulled from Europe PMC in October 2026. Titles are the authors' own and the findings have not been reviewed here.
- Heterologous expression of Bixa orellana cleavage dioxygenase 4-3 drives crocin but not bixin biosynthesis
- Non-antimicrobial and Non-anticancer Properties of ZnO Nanoparticles Biosynthesized Using Different Plant Parts of Bixa orellana
- The role of bixin as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and skin protecting natural product extracted from Bixa orellana L