Tab. 7005. 



ILLICIUM veeum. 

 Native of South China. 



Nat. Ord. Magnoliace-e;. — Tribe Illicie.e. 

 Genus Iilicium, Linn. ; (Benth. et Rook.f. Gen. PL vol. i. p. 18.) 



Iliicium varum ; foliis elliptico-lanceolatis v. oblanceolatis obtusis v. obtuse acu- 

 minates in petiolumbrevemangustatis, floribus axillaribus breviter pedunculatis 

 globosis, periantbii foliolis ad 10 orbiculatis concavis coriaceis exfcerioribu.? 

 majoribus ciliolatis intimis rubris, staminibus ad 10 brevibus filamento cum 

 connective- in corpus carnosum subovoidem confluente, loculis adnatis parallelis 

 subremotis oblongis, carpellis ad 8 stigmatibus brevibus vix recurvis, carpellis 

 maturis ad 8 cymbiforniibus longiuscule rostratis. 



I. anisatum, Gcertn. Carp. vol. i. p. 338, t. 69 (non Linn.). 



The plant producing the true Star Anise of China is 

 here for the first time figured and described. For many 

 years the fruit so called was supposed to be that of Iilicium 

 anisatum, Linn, (see Bentl. and Trimen, Med. PI. vol. i. 

 t. 10), the Skimmi of Japan, or of /. religiosum, Sieb. 

 , and Zucc. (Tab. nost. 3965), supposed to be a native of 

 China, but which is identical with I. anisatum of Linngeus 

 and Loureiro. For an account of this plant, its history 

 and characters, I must refer to Baillon's learned treatise, 

 published in 1867, in his Adansonia (vol. viii. p. 1), and to 

 papers by the late Dr. Hance and Dr. Bretschneider in the 

 China Review (vol. ix. p. 283, &c). It suffices here to 

 observe that J. anisatum or religiosum are species with 

 peduncles bracteate at the base, and long spreading inner 

 perianth- segments, and that they hence belong to a different 

 section of the genus from /. verum. 



The first person to recognize the fact that neither /. 

 anisatum of Linnaeus or of Loureiro could be the true Star 

 Anise of China was Dr. Bretschneider, then Medical Officer 

 to the Russian Embassy at Pekin, who drew attention to 

 the fact that the Japanese plant was a reputed poison ; 

 and that this had been confirmed by T. F. Eykman, who 

 in a paper published in 1881 in the Mittheilung der 

 Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Natur- und Vdlkerkunde Ost- 

 Asien (Heft xxiii. 23) had experimented with and given 



July 1st, 1888. 



