''Bixa'' is a genus of plants in the family Bixaceae. It is native to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

, and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, and naturalized in other places.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref>Molina Rosito, A. 1975. Enumeración de las plantas de Honduras. Ceiba 19(1): 1–118.

Species

The genus includes the following species: #'' Bixa arborea'' Huber – Brazil, Ecuador, Peru #'' Bixa atlantica'' Antar & Sano – E. Brazil #'' Bixa excelsa'' Gleason & Krukoff – Peru, northwestern Brazil #''

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

'' L. – type species – widespread from Mexico to Argentina; naturalized in West Indies, parts of Africa, India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Christmas Island, Hawaii, Society Islands #'' Bixa platycarpa'' Ruiz & Pav. ex G.Don – Ecuador, Peru, northwestern Brazil #'' Bixa urucurana'' Willd. – Honduras, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, Ecuador, Peru, northwestern Brazil

References

{{Authority control Bixaceae Malvales genera Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus