FRUOTUS ANISI STELLATI. 



21 



same fact, in consequence of which he regarded the tree as distinct from 

 that of Loureiro, naming- it Illicmm Ja'ponicum,a. name he changed in 

 1837 to 1. religlosum. Baillon/ while admitting certain differences 

 between the fruits of the Chinese and Japanese trees, holds them to 

 constitute hut one species, and the same view is taken by Miquel.'* 



The star-anise of commerce is produced in altitudes of 2500 metres 

 in the north-western parts of the province of Yunnan in South-western 

 China where the tree, wliich attains a Iieight of 12 to 15 feet, grows in 

 abundarjce.' The fruits of the Japanese variety of the tree are not 

 collected, and the Chinese drug alone is in use even in Japan. 



History — Notwithstanding its striking appearance, there is no 

 evidence that star-anise found its way to Europe like other Eastern 

 spices during the middle ages. Concerning its ancient use in China, 

 the only fact we have found recorded is, that during the Sung dynasty, 

 A.p. 970—1127, star-anise was levied as tribute in the southern part of 

 Kien-chow, now Yen-ping-fu, in Fokien.^ 



Star-anise was brought to England from the Philippines by the 

 voyager Candish, about A.D. 1588. Clusius obtained it in London from 

 the apothecary Morgan and the druggist Caret, and described it in 

 1601.' The drug appears to have been rare in the time of Pomet, 

 who states (1694) that the Dutch use it to flavour their beverages of 

 tea and " sorbec." ^ In those times it was brought to Europe by way 

 o^f Russia, and was thence called Cardavwmum Siberiense, or Annis de 



Description 



um 



seeded carpels, originally upright, but afterwards spread into a radiate 

 whorl and united in a single row round a short central column which 

 proceeds from an oblique pedicel. When ripe they are woody and split 

 longitudinally at the upturned ventral suture, so that the shining seed 

 becomes visible. This seed, which is elliptical and somewhat flattened, 

 stands erect in the carpel ; it is truncated on the side adjoining the 

 central column, and is there attached by an obliquely-rising funicle. 

 Ine upper edge of the seed is keeled, the lower rounded. The boat- 

 shaped carpels, to the number of 8, are attached to the column through 

 their whole height, but adhere to each other only slightly at the base ; 

 the upper or split side of each carpel occupies a nearly horizontal posi- 

 tion. The carpels are irregularly wrinkled, especially below, and are 

 toore or less beaked at the apex ; their colour is a rusty brown. 

 Internally they are of a brighter colour, smooth, and with a cavity in 

 the lower half corresponding to the shape of the seed. The cavity is 

 lormed of a separate wall, i millim. thick, which, as well as the testa of 

 the seed, distinctly exhibits a radiate structure. The small embryo 

 hes next the hilum in the soft albumen, which is covered by a dark 



^Adansonia, viii. 9; ///.< des Plantes, 

 ^tagnoliac^es, 1868. 154. 



(18fK)_lS66). 2,57. 



(T^JS"^^^: ^"'^^ MUkales du voifage 



Slp" !," ^^^<^-Chine II. (Paris, 1873) 

 rfVi^, ,°^<iot, Etude pratique du commerce 

 "■^portation de la Chine, 1 848. 1 1 . 



* Bretschneider in [Foochow] Chinese Re- 

 corder, Jan., 1871, 220, reprinted in his 

 "Study and Value of Chinese Botanical 

 Works," Foochow, 1872, 13.— See also 

 Hirtli du Frones, in New Bcmedies, Kcvv 



York, 1877, 181. 



• Rarior. Plant. Hint. 202. _ 



« Hist, des Brag. pt. i. liv. i. 43. 



