BIXACEAE
Morphological description
Woody plants. Usually: Small trees, stipules tiny, caducous.
Leaves
Leaves spiral, simple, entire, palminerved, red-dotted.
Flowers
Flower flowers 5-merous, petals free, stamens numerous; ovary superior, 1-locular, ovules many on three parietal placentas.
Fruits
Fruit a spiny capsule.
Different from: Flacourtiaceae: leaves never red-dotted, fruit not spiny. — Tiliaceae: usually stellate hairs, ovary 2-5-locular.
Distribution: Tropical.
Notes: Bixa orellana is the only species of this family, indigenous in the Neotropics, but now pantropical through cultivation. A red dye is prepared from the seeds.
Literature: C.A. Backer, Fl. Males. I, 4 (1951) 239-241.
Spot characters (Van Balgooy): plants with red or orange sap, scales, petiole swollen apically, stamens numerous, fruit blue.
Illustrations: Fig. 16. C.A. Backer, Fl. Males. I, 4 (1951) 239-241.
Images in PhytoImages for Bixaceae.