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Achiote

Bärbel Miemietz / Wikimedia Commons - CC BY-SA 4.0

Achiote

Bixa orellana

Achiote, also sold as annatto or lipstick tree, is a fast-growing evergreen shrub or small tree native from Mexico through Central America to Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and northern Argentina, and planted across the tropics for its seeds. Clusters of pink or white flowers about 2 inches across, like single wild roses, open at the branch tips and are followed by clusters of red to red-brown capsules covered in soft bristles, which split open to show seeds coated in a waxy red-orange layer. That coating is annatto: the coloring and mild seasoning behind achiote paste and sazón, the yellow-orange of many cheeses, butters, and margarines, and the red body paint and lipstick that gave the plant its English name. In a garden it usually stays 6 to 12 feet tall and wide as a specimen or informal hedge, though as a tree it can reach 20 to 30 feet. It is frost-tender and needs a frost-free climate: it is hardy outdoors in USDA zones 10a-12b and grown elsewhere in a large container or conservatory that comes indoors before frost. Outside its native range it has naturalized on many Pacific islands, sparingly so in Hawaii, and in the Galapagos, where the Charles Darwin Foundation rates it potentially invasive.

Climate fit: narrow (21/100)

Focal point

Structure

Edible

Container

Light

Full sun / Part sun

Water

Consistent moisture

Mature size

6-12 ft tall · 6-12 ft apart

Hardy in zones

10a-12b

mild to frost-free winters

Life cycle

Perennial

Native in Illinois

No

The seeds are the edible part: their waxy red-orange coating is annatto, a food coloring and mild seasoning.

°C

°F

Cold hardiness

These values are location-based: this location's current hardiness is the baseline, and the 2050 value is a projected future climate for this same location.

Now

Zone 6b

Plotwright

USDA Zone 6b

-5°F to 0°F

Won't grow here

2050

2100

Zone 7a

Plotwright

0°F to 5°F

Won't grow here

In plain terms: This location has cold winters. Its winters are projected to keep warming through 2050.

✕

Out of range today and still out of range in 2050.

Heat tolerance

Heat tolerance values are location-based too: heat days today are observed at this site, and the 2050 value projects this same location under a future climate.

Loading AHS heat-zone data for this location...

What it needs

Conditions

Light

Full sun / Part sun

Water

Consistent moisture

Spacing

6-12 ft

Habit

Fast-growing evergreen tropical shrub or small tree, usually kept at 6 to 12 feet as a specimen or informal hedge

Care tips

•

Grow it outdoors only where it never freezes (USDA zones 10a-12b); anywhere colder, keep it in a large container or conservatory and bring it indoors before frost.

•

Give it full sun and keep taller plants from overtopping it: shaded achiote stops flowering and fruiting.

•

Keep the soil evenly moist in rich, well-drained ground. It can ride out dry spells once established, but the Missouri Botanical Garden notes it does best with consistent moisture.

Lifecycle

Planting

Plant outdoors only in a frost-free climate (USDA zones 10a-12b), in full sun and organically rich, well-drained soil that stays evenly moist. PFAF notes that it succeeds on almost all soil types and grows into a larger tree on deeper, more fertile ground. Give it room for a 6 to 12 feet spread, and keep it clear of taller trees that would shade it out.

Transplanting

PFAF describes raising seedlings in trays, moving them into bags or pots, and growing them on for three to four months before planting out; rooted cuttings are ready after about three months. In the tropics, PFAF notes that seed is usually sown straight into the field at the start of the rainy season; elsewhere, plant out only once the weather is warm and frost-free. In cooler regions, keep it in a large container that moves outdoors for summer and indoors before frost.

Early growth

Growth is fast. Keep young plants evenly moist while they establish; once rooted, PFAF says it can withstand droughts of up to four months, but it fruits best with well-distributed rain and a drier spell for the seed to ripen. The Missouri Botanical Garden reports no serious insect or disease problems. Shape young plants early if you want a hedge; PFAF notes it tolerates hard trimming.

Maturity

Cutting-grown plants can bear fruit within about two years, while seedlings flower later and more sparingly. PFAF reports full seed crops after three to four years, peak yields at four to five, and a decline from about twelve years, though plants can keep producing for up to twenty. Harvest the capsules as they split open; the seeds can be dried for later use. As a garden shrub it stays around 6 to 12 feet, and grown as a tree it can reach 20 to 30 feet.

Propagation

Sow fresh seed from ripe pods, which PFAF says germinates readily in 7-10 days under moist conditions; stored seed loses vigor, falling to about 12% germination after three years. Hardwood cuttings at least 0.3 inches thick root in 7-9 weeks with a hardwood rooting hormone, and plants grown from cuttings of high-yielding selections flower and fruit sooner than seedlings. Air layering and budding also work.

Native range

Worldwide native range.

Climate notes

•

The Missouri Botanical Garden's PlantFinder gives USDA zones 10 to 12 and Plants For A Future gives 10-12, the basis for the published 10a-12b range. Per Kew's WCVP it is native from Mexico through Central America to Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and northern Argentina, not to the United States.

•

It is frost-tender: PFAF says it requires a frost-free, warm, humid climate, and Wikipedia adds that it does best sheltered from cool winds. Below zone 10a, grow it in a large container or conservatory and bring it indoors before frost.

•

A plant of the humid tropics that PFAF records from sea level to about 7,218 feet in areas of high, year-round rainfall. It can withstand droughts of up to four months, but it fruits best with well-distributed rain and a drier spell while the seed ripens.

•

The Missouri Botanical Garden recommends organically rich, medium-moisture, well-drained soil in full sun and says it does best with consistent moisture. PFAF reports that it succeeds on almost all soil types, preferring a pH of 5.5-7.5 and tolerating 4.5-8.5.

•

It needs sun: the Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) account, quoting a US Forest Service shrub reference, notes that it is shade-intolerant and that plants overtopped and shaded by other vegetation stop flowering and fruiting.

•

Introduced widely across the tropics. USDA PLANTS lists it as introduced in the lower 48 states, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the Pacific Basin, with no invasive or noxious listing, and PFAF records no weed potential. PIER records it as naturalized on many Pacific islands (sparingly naturalized on Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, and Maui; occasionally naturalized in Fiji; naturalized in French Polynesia, New Caledonia, and Papua New Guinea) and on Mayotte and Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean; on Mayotte the French committee of the IUCN rates it potentially invasive. In the Galapagos, the Charles Darwin Foundation's species database lists it as a naturalized introduction, first recorded in 1906, and rates it potentially invasive. The Hawaii-Pacific Weed Risk Assessment still scores it low risk. Avoid planting it next to natural areas in the wet tropics.

Plant this, not that

Better fit for this place

For Chicago, IL, these are replacement suggestions: similar plants with a stronger hardiness fit now and/or in 2050.

Sambucus canadensis

American elderberry

A fast, suckering native shrub of streambanks and moist thickets across eastern North America, grown for huge flat-topped cymes of tiny lemon-scented white flowers in early summer and the clusters of dark elderberry drupes that follow. Spreads by root suckers into naturalized colonies 5 to 12 feet tall and wide; the flowers feed butterflies and the showy fruit feeds birds. The raw berries are not eaten fresh - they are cooked into jelly, pie, and wine.

Shrub

Full sun / Part sun / Part shade

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Nandina domestica

Heavenly bamboo

Heavenly bamboo is an evergreen (semi-deciduous in cold winters) shrub native to eastern Asia from the Himalayan foothills to Japan, valued for striking year-round foliage that flushes pink-red in spring, turns green in summer, and blazes red-purple in autumn and winter, plus panicles of white summer flowers and persistent bright-red berries. It is adaptable, drought-tolerant once established, and undemanding in most soils from full sun to part shade. The honest catch is dual: all plant parts - especially the berries - contain cyanogenic compounds, and excessive consumption of the berries can be lethal to cedar waxwings and is toxic to cats and livestock, making it a poor choice wherever birds congregate to feed on winter fruit; and in the southeastern United States it is classified invasive (Florida Category I) and is best replaced with a non-invasive native alternative.

Shrub

Full sun / Part sun / Part shade

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Ilex crenata

Japanese Holly

Japanese holly is a dense, small-leaved evergreen shrub native to Japan, Korea, eastern China, and adjacent regions of eastern Asia, widely grown as a boxwood substitute for formal hedging and topiary. It tolerates heavy shearing well and thrives in acidic soils in a range spanning USDA zones 5b-8b. The honest catch is twofold: the glossy black berries are toxic to humans and pets (a genus-wide trait of Ilex), and the species is listed as invasive in parts of the eastern United States, where bird-dispersed seedlings colonise native woodland edges.

Shrub

Full sun / Part sun / Part shade

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Amelanchier canadensis

Canadian serviceberry

A small native tree with white spring flowers, edible summer berries, and copper to red fall color.

Shrub

Full sun / Part sun / Part shade

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Similar plants

Browse lateral options with similar roles, light needs, size, or native-range overlap; these are not filtered for a better climate fit.

Camellia sinensis

Tea plant

Camellia sinensis is the evergreen shrub whose leaves, buds, and stems yield every style of tea - white, green, oolong, and black - and it is native to the monsoon-forest borderlands of SW China, Myanmar, northeast India, and mainland Southeast Asia. In gardens outside zones 7–9 it is too frost-tender to grow unprotected outdoors, and the honest catch is its unyielding demand for reliably moist, acid soil (pH 4.5–6.5): on anything alkaline or prone to summer drought it yellows, stalls, and refuses to thrive no matter how warm the climate.

The Mediterranean evergreen whose leathery, glossy dark-green leaves are the bay leaf of the kitchen. Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder describes it as a pyramidal, aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub that can reach 60 feet but is usually seen at 10 to 30 feet and is often pruned to 8 feet or less for garden use. Trees are dioecious: small yellowish-green spring flowers on female plants, if pollinated, give way to single-seeded purple-black berries. Winter hardy only to USDA Zone 8, so it is grown as a clipped container houseplant farther north.

Shrub

Full sun / Part shade

Feijoa, also called pineapple guava, is an evergreen shrub or small tree from southern and southeastern Brazil, Uruguay, and northeastern Argentina. It was long sold as Acca sellowiana, the name many gardeners and nurseries still use, though Kew's WCVP now accepts Feijoa sellowiana. A myrtle-family relative of the tropical guava, it is a distinctly different and much hardier plant. It grows 10 to 15 feet tall with thick, leathery, gray-green leaves that are silvery-white beneath, and in late spring and early summer it carries striking flowers of fleshy white petals flushed purple around a tuft of dark red stamens. The petals are sweet and edible, and the egg-sized, waxy blue-gray-green fruit that ripens in fall has an aromatic flavor often compared to pineapple and strawberry. A cold-hardy subtropical fruit, it generally survives 18°F and is grown in USDA zones 8a-10b, but it needs some winter chill to fruit well and crops poorly in hot, frost-free climates. Many plants are self-incompatible, so plant two cultivars for a reliable crop; even the self-pollinating cultivars bear more with a partner. Plants For A Future lists no known hazards, and UF/IFAS reports it is not invasive in Florida.

Shrub

Full sun / Part shade

A fast, suckering native shrub of streambanks and moist thickets across eastern North America, grown for huge flat-topped cymes of tiny lemon-scented white flowers in early summer and the clusters of dark elderberry drupes that follow. Spreads by root suckers into naturalized colonies 5 to 12 feet tall and wide; the flowers feed butterflies and the showy fruit feeds birds. The raw berries are not eaten fresh - they are cooked into jelly, pie, and wine.

Shrub

Full sun / Part sun / Part shade

Cape honeysuckle (Tecomaria capensis, Bignoniaceae) is a vigorous, evergreen scrambling shrub from southern and south-central Africa, valued for tubular orange-to-apricot flowers borne erratically across much of the year. It reaches about 6.6 to 9.8 feet tall and wide as a free-standing shrub, or can be trained much taller on a trellis or wall, and is widely used for informal hedging and as a hot-color border or container plant. It is frost-tender (RHS H1C; roughly USDA 9b-11) - in cooler climates it is grown under glass or as a summer container plant and overwintered indoors. In frost-free, mild climates it can become weedy: it has naturalised and is treated as invasive in parts of Australia and on islands such as the Azores, so site it where suckering and self-layering can be managed. It is not a recognised edible and is not flagged as notably toxic, though several plant parts feature in traditional southern-African medicine; treat it as ornamental rather than for consumption. Note the accepted binomial here is Tecomaria capensis (POWO/GBIF); the widely-seen Tecoma capensis is a synonym.

Chinese Fringe Flower

Loropetalum chinense is an evergreen shrub native to woodlands and thickets across southern China, Japan, Taiwan, and adjacent parts of Southeast Asia, valued in gardens for its distinctive ribbon-like flowers and, in the popular purple-leaved forms, year-round burgundy foliage. It thrives in zones 7-9 as a bold structural shrub or hedging plant, blooming most heavily in late winter to early spring. The honest catch is its absolute dependence on acidic soil: even slightly alkaline pH triggers iron chlorosis, and in the Southeastern US a bacterial crown gall disease can cause rapid branch dieback and plant death, making site preparation and soil testing non-negotiable before planting.

Shrub

Full sun / Part sun / Part shade

Educator packet

Plant packet

Achiote educator packet

Achiote, also sold as annatto or lipstick tree, is a fast-growing evergreen shrub or small tree native from Mexico through Central America to Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and northern Argentina, and planted across the tropics for its seeds. Clusters of pink or white flowers about 2 inches across, like single wild roses, open at the branch tips and are followed by clusters of red to red-brown capsules covered in soft bristles, which split open to show seeds coated in a waxy red-orange layer. That coating is annatto: the coloring and mild seasoning behind achiote paste and sazón, the yellow-orange of many cheeses, butters, and margarines, and the red body paint and lipstick that gave the plant its English name. In a garden it usually stays 6 to 12 feet tall and wide as a specimen or informal hedge, though as a tree it can reach 20 to 30 feet. It is frost-tender and needs a frost-free climate: it is hardy outdoors in USDA zones 10a-12b and grown elsewhere in a large container or conservatory that comes indoors before frost. Outside its native range it has naturalized on many Pacific islands, sparingly so in Hawaii, and in the Galapagos, where the Charles Darwin Foundation rates it potentially invasive.

Scientific name

Bixa orellana

Plant type

shrub

Hardiness

10a-12b

Light

full-sun, part-sun

Moisture

consistent

Spacing

6-12 ft