Anatto
Scientific name
Bixa orellana L.
English Name
Anatto
Malayalam name
കുരങ്ങുമഞ്ഞള്, മങ്കി-മൈലാഞ്ചി, സിന്ദൂരം
Common name
Monkey manjal
Description
- Habit : Tree
- Habitat : Grown as ornamental plant
- Leaves : alternate, ovate, sub cordate or truncate at base, long-acuminate at apex, densely red-dotted
- Flowers : whitish-rose.
- Seeds : orange-red
How to use
- The fruit pulp is used for the treatment of epilepsy, kidney and skin diseases.
- The seeds are used to treat gonorrhoea and the seed oil is used to treat leprosy.
- Flowers used for the treatment of intermittent fevers, gonorrhoea and dysentery
Uses
Anti-dysenteric, diuretic, febrifuge and digestive.
Parts used
Leaves, flowers and fruit
Conservation
Propagation & Cultivation
It can be propagated through seed and stem cuttings. Seedlings are raised in nursery during April-May, before the onset monsoon in mother beds or poly bags of 25 cm × 10 cm size filled with potting mixture of soil and farmyard manure and irrigate regularly. Within 8-10 days, seeds germinate.