Abstract
Red and black represent not only revolution and obscurantism in Stendhal's famous novel but also the two colors that characterize the appearance of Amazonian indigenous people during festivals, war campaigns, and everyday life. The juice of unripe fruits of the Genipa americana tree provides the dark blue to black color and the seeds of the Bixa orellana shrub provide an orange color to red color.
Field research and published data collected by other researchers in the Peruvian Amazon demonstrate that these two plants are very popular and used in medicine, both widely grown in mestizo and native rain forest villages. Achiote is mainly applied as a tonic for the digestive tract, a pain reliever for headaches, fever, liver disease, malaria, skin disorders and conjunctivitis.
Huito is mainly used to treat skin problems, respiratory diseases, anemia and inflammatory diseases of female genital organs.