The Bixaceae are a

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

of dicotyledonous

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

s commonly called the achiote family. Under the Cronquist system, the family was traditionally placed in the order

Violales Violales is a botanical name of an order of flowering plants and takes its name from the included family Violaceae; it was proposed by Lindley (1853). The name has been used in several systems, although some systems used the name Parietales f ...

. However, newer arrangements move it, with some other families previously in the Violales, into the

Malvales The Malvales are an order of flowering plants. As circumscribed by APG II-system, the order includes about 6000 species within 9 families. The order is placed in the eurosids II, which are part of the eudicots. The plants are mostly shrubs and ...

. Although small, this family includes

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

s, and

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

s. The plants are

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

, and all species have five

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s. All plants within the Bixaceae produce a red, orange, or yellow

latex Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latexes are found in nature, but synthetic latexes are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants (angiosperms ...

Genera

The Bixaceae include three genera and a total of 25 species, although ''Cochlospermum'' is sometimes placed into its own family

Cochlospermaceae The Cochlospermaceae were a family of two genera and 20-25 species of trees and shrubs, first described by Jules Émile Planchon in 1847. They have been included in the Bixaceae from the APG III system onwards. The older APG II system treated th ...

. The best-known species is the source of

annatto Annatto ( or ) is an orange-red condiment and food coloring derived from the seeds of the achiote tree (''Bixa orellana''), native to tropical America. It is often used to impart a yellow or orange color to foods, but sometimes also for its flav ...

, the

achiote ''Bixa orellana'', also known as achiote, is a shrub native to Central America. ''Bixa orellana'' is grown in many countries worldwide. The tree is best known as the source of annatto, a natural orange-red condiment (also called or ) obtained ...

, which belongs to the type genus of the family. *''

Bixa ''Bixa'' is a genus of plants in the family Bixaceae. It is native to Mexico, Central America, Caribbean, and South America, and naturalized in other places.Molina Rosito, A. 1975. Enumeración de las plantas de Honduras. Ceiba 19(1): 1–118. ...

'' *'' Cochlospermum'' ('' Amoreuxia'' is now a synonym)Plants of the World Online: ''Amoreuxia'' Moc. & Sessé ex DC.
/ref> *''

Diegodendron ''Diegodendron'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Bixaceae. The only known species is ''Diegodendron humbertii''. Its native range is Madagascar. The genus and species were circumscribed by René Paul Raymond Cap ...

References

External links

Bixaceae
i
L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The families of flowering plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, information retrieval.
https://web.archive.org/web/20070103200438/http://delta-intkey.com/ {{Taxonbar, from=Q564650 Malvales families