🌿 Annatto / Achiote
Bixa orellana
herbs evergreen shrub/small tree
🗺️ Zones
4-9
🧪 Soil pH
6.0-7.5
📏 Spacing
10-15 ft apart (small tree/shrub)
📅 Days to Maturity
18-24 months (from seed); begins producing seed pods 2-3 years after planting
🍴 Edible Parts
🍽️ ["Achiote paste🍽️ cochinita pibil🍽️ rice coloring🍽️ cheeses (coloring)🍽️ Filipino and Latin American cuisine"]
🤝 Companions (6)
🤝 bananas
Annatto grows well under banana canopy, providing living mulch and adding biodiversity to tropical agroforestry systems without competing for light.
🤝 cassava
Annatto's shallow roots don't compete with cassava's deep tubers; both thrive in similar tropical conditions and make efficient use of vertical space.
🤝 beans
Beans fix nitrogen into soil that annatto benefits from; annatto's shrubby form provides light wind protection for climbing beans.
🤝 corn
Annatto grows well between corn rows, benefiting from the partial shade while its modest size doesn't shade out the corn.
Annatto serves as a productive understory shrub beneath papaya, creating a multi-layer tropical polyculture with complementary root depths.
🤝 citrus
Annatto thrives in the dappled light beneath citrus trees, adding a productive understory layer that doesn't compete with citrus roots.
⚠️ Keep Apart (1)
⚠️ plants needing full sun beneath mature shrub
Growth inhibition or competition
💊 Medicinal Uses
Contains bixin and norbixin (carotenoids) with antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. Seeds used traditionally for wound healing, fever reduction, and as a digestive aid. Leaf infusion used for burns, skin infections, and dysentery in traditional Amazonian medicine.