The Lipstick tree, BIxa orellana is planted as a roadside tree in many parts of my suburb. Some of the trees have white flowers and greenish white seedpods. I love the pink flowered variety with its bright red seed pods. There is a lot of bee activity among these flowers.
Yesterday, I saw some Blue Banded Bees among the flowers. They were jostling the common Apis indica to get at the pollen.
The Blue banded bee is not very common here. I have read that it is a native of Australia. I wonder how it travelled all the way from Brisbane to Bangalore!Below is the picture of an Indian bee at the flower.
The Lipstick Tree itself is a native of South America. The seed pods are used to make an industrial dye.
Also known as annato it is used as a food colouring in the Caribbean and South America. In the french islands, in Grenada and in Trinidad it is known a roucou (roocoo). You can see how the dye is extracted for cooking here http://www.simplytrinicooking.com/2008/12/roucou.html
ReplyDeleteAre those just red seed pods? They look too luscious not to be berries :( I liked islandgal's info; now, I'll have to find the plant!
ReplyDeleteIslandgal, thanks for the info.
ReplyDeleteShailaja, those seedpods are sort of hairy.
What a very pretty tree and those bees are really neat! I've never heard of them, I love the coloring!
ReplyDeleteLove the plants and flowers.
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