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Abstract

Bixa orellana or â�?�?lipstick treeâ�? is mainly an ornamental plant mainly found in South and Central America, Asia and Caribbean islands. It is popularly known as â�?�?urucum,â�? has been used by indigenous communities in Brazil and other tropical countries for several biological applications, which indicates its potential use as an active ingredient in pharmaceutical products In India plant is known as traditional dye in form of â�?�?Sinduriâ�?�? or â�?�?latkanâ�?�? and is used as medicine, cosmetics and food industries. The plant exhibits appropriate genetic variation and is wild in nature, sometimes also cultivated. The seeds are of profitable prominence as they produce a normal pigment bixin a carotenoid, used in coloring dairy products, and in preparing â�?�?sindurâ�? and â�?�?lipstickâ�?, and also possess a worthy calorific value. It is mainly used for its bright red fruit or seedpods as a natural color, because of which named as â�?�?Lipstick tree. It has been widely used to cure different disorders such as Gonorrhea, inflammatory, mosquito repellent, haemostatic, anti-dysenteric, diuretic, skin diseases and stomach problems. Annatto dye which is obtained from pulp is used for coloring edible materials. The unique red color to annatto is due to bixin and norbixin, which are Carotenoids. This work deals to explore various chemical constituents present in Bixa, which is responsible for various pharmacological actions. Keywords: Bixa, lipstick, sindur, carotenoids, dye

Biography

Rashmi Saxena Pal is a professor from school of pharmaceutical sciences, of lovely professional university, Punjab. She did Ph.D. in the field of pharmacy.