The use of medicinal plants to cure diseases has been practiced since ancient times (Aslam and Afridi, 2018). The breeding of plants for drug development is a historical tradition because they contain bioactive and medically useful compounds, such as alkaloids and terpenoids, and currently 28,187 plant species are recorded as being of medicinal use (Willis, 2017) . Say no to plagiarism. . Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essay Bixa orellana belonging to the Bixaceae family commonly known as “annatto” or “lipstick tree” native to South America , Central America and the Caribbean Islands. is a tropical ornamental plant with traditional uses. In Asia, the plant is mainly cultivated in India, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. In India, the plant is commonly known as 'Sinduri' or 'latkan' and its English name is 'annatto', while in German it is called 'Orleans'. The plant is mainly grown for its seeds which produce an orange-red colored powder, with Brazil, Peru and the United States being the largest producers and exporters; while Western Europe and Japan are the main market. Water soluble norbixin extract, vegetable oil extracts and solvent extracted bixin are in high demand worldwide and are used, along with the roots, bark and leaves, in food industries, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. The introduction of new drugs of natural origin has drawn attention to the identification (C Kumar and Pandey, 2015; A Pandey et al, 2017), exploration and preservation of various medicinal plants (G Pandey et al , 2017, H Pandey, 2018, E Pandey et al, 2018), with novel bioactive compounds and potential to prepare drug formulations (B Pandey, 2017, D Pandey, 2017, F Pandey et al, 2017). It therefore becomes necessary to evaluate the morphological characteristics and phytochemical investigations for the standardization of the quality of this socio-economic and popular plant species throughout the world. Therefore, this study was designed for morphological evaluation, phytochemical evaluation and traditional uses of the plant. The plant is an evergreen shrub or small tree 2 to 8 m tall. The leaves are simple, opposite with an acute apex and base and an average size of 7.5 cm in length and 4.6 cm in width (Radhika et al 2010), stipulated and spirally arranged, scaly in the young stage and become glabrous when mature. Fresh leaves and leaf powder are green in color with a slightly bitter taste (Radhika et al 2010). The bark is hard, smooth and light or dark brown in color. Flowers pedunculated, branched terminal panicles of 8 to 50 flowers, fragrant, 4 to 6 cm in diameter; scaly pedicel, thickened at the apex, carrying 5 to 6 large glands; having 4 to 5 free and obovate sepals, caducous and covered with scales; the petals are 4 to 7 in number, obovate with scaly stems; infinite stamens; Pistil 1.6 cm long with superior ovary; Style 12 to 15 mm long; bilobed stigma. The plants produce three different shades of flowers, namely pink, purple and white, which metamorphose into red, greenish-red and green colored fruits. Based on these characteristics as well as pigment profile, three fruit varieties - red oval, greenish red conical and hemispherical green were observed and among these red colored oval fruit varieties were found to be superior in all morphological aspects (Akshatha et al 2011). . Flowering mainly takes place at 2015).