Galapagos Species Database
The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.
Bixa orellana
achiote, lipsticktree, roucou

















Domain
Eukaryota
Kingdom
Plantae
Phylum
Magnoliophyta
Class
Magnoliopsida (= Dicotyledoneae)
Order
Violales
Family
Bixaceae
Genus
Bixa
Species
orellana
Taxon category: Accepted
Origin: Introduced - established
Year of first record: 1906
Mode of introduction: Intentional
Introduction Pathway: Intentional
Subpathway: Agriculture/Horticulture
Introduced status: Naturalized
Invasive status: Potentially Invasive
Map of specimen collection localities or observation records for this species in our collections database.
- Chavez, J. (1993) Diagnostico de la Agricultura y la Ganader¡a en la Provincia de Galapagos. Tesis.
- Christophersen, E. (1932) A Collection of Plants from the Galápagos Islands. Nyt Mag. Naturvidenskaberne 70: 67-95.
- Guézou, A. Trueman, M., Buddenhagen, E., Chamorro, S., Guerrero, A.M., Pozo, P., Atkinson, R. (2010) An extensive Alien Plan Inventory from the Inhabited Areas of Galapagos Plos One/ www.plosone.org. Volume 5/ Issue 4/e10276
- Lawesson, J.E. (1987) Plantas exóticas en las Islas Galápagos, un resumen. Memorias. Taller sobre investigación Botánica y manejo en Galápagos. Pg. 17-23.
- Porter, D.M. (1983) Vascular Plants of the Galapagos: Origins and Dispersal. In: Bowman, R.I., Berson, M. & Leviton, A.E. (eds.): Patterns of evolution in Galápagos organisms. Pacific Division, AAAS, San Francisco, California, p. 33-96.
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Missouri Botanical Garden (eds.) (2013) The Plant List, Version 1.1. Published on the Internet; http://www.theplantlist.org/ (accessed 1st January).
- Schofield, E.K. (1973) Galapagos Flora: The Threat of Introduced Plants. Biol. Conservation 5(1): 48-51.
- Tropicos.org. (2017) Database of Missouri Botanical Garden. Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden. 06 Oct 2017 <http://www.tropicos.org
- Wiggins, I.L. Porter, D.M. (1971) Flora of the Galapagos Islands Standford University Press, Stanford.
You are welcome to download and use the information found in this page, acknowledging its source.
This page should be cited as follows:
"Galapagos Species Database, Bixa orellana", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=207. Accessed 18 October 2026.