Urucum, also spelled urucu, is the fruit of the annatto tree (Bixa orellana, in Portuguese known as urucuzeiro ou urucueiro), a tree native to tropical America, which reaches a height of up to six meters. Its fruits are capsules armed with malleable spines, which turn red when ripe. Then they open and reveal small seeds arranged in series, thirty to fifty per fruit, surrounded by a red aril. Some of the indigenous peoples of North, Central, and South America originally used the seeds to make red body paint and lipstick, as well as a spice. For this reason, the Bixa orellana is sometimes called the lipstick tree.