🌿 Annatto / Achiote
Bixa orellana
herbs
evergreen shrub/small tree
☀️ Sun
Full Sun to Partial Shade
💧 Water
Moderate
🗺️ Zones
4-9
🧪 Soil pH
6.0-7.5
📏 Spacing
10-15 ft apart (small tree/shrub)
⏱️ 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
Key:🤝 Grows well together❌ Keep apart☀️ Sun needs💧 Water🗺️ Hardiness zone
🤝 Companions (6)
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.
Annatto serves as a productive understory shrub beneath papaya, creating a multi-layer tropical polyculture with complementary root depths.
Annatto grows well under banana canopy, providing living mulch and adding biodiversity to tropical agroforestry systems without competing for light.
Beans fix nitrogen into soil that annatto benefits from; annatto's shrubby form provides light wind protection for climbing beans.
🤝 citrus
Annatto thrives in the dappled light beneath citrus trees, adding a productive understory layer that doesn't compete with citrus roots.
Annatto grows well between corn rows, benefiting from the partial shade while its modest size doesn't shade out the corn.
⚠️ Keep Apart (1)
⚠️ plants needing full sun beneath mature shrub
Growth inhibition or competition
🛒 Buy Seeds & Plants
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
Johnny's Selected Seeds
Botanical Interests
True Leaf Market
Burpee
Territorial Seed Company
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