Arnon
a river in Palestine, the boundary between the country of the Moabites and that of the Amorites, latterly of the Israelites, a tributary of the Dead Sea.
ARNOTTO. (1) The waxy-looking pulp which envelops the seeds in the arnotto tree. This is detached by throwing the seed into water, after which it is dried partially, and made up first into soft pellets, rolled in leaves, in which state it is called flag, or roll arnotto. Afterward, becoming quite dry, it is formed into cakes, and becomes cake arnotto.
The South American Indians color their bodies red with it; farmers here and elsewhere use it to stain cheese; in Holland, the Dutch employ it to color butter; the Spaniards put it in their chocolot late and soups; dyers use it to produce a reddish color, and varnish makers, to impart an orange tint to some varnishes.
As a medicine, it is slightly purgative and stomachic. This substance is very frequently adulterated. (2) In botany, the arnotto tree, the bixa orellana of Linnæus, has a fivedentate calyx, 10 petals, many hypogynous stamina, and a two-valved hispid capsule. It is from 20 to 30 feet in height, and grows in tropical America.
It is the type of the old order bixaceæ, now more generally called flacourtiaceӕ.