258 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART Tile 
awl-shaped. (Don’s Mill. i. p.79). China. Flowers yellow. April till 
June. 1790. Height 10 ft. 
Description. A large shrub or low tree, with a thick branchy stem, attaining 
the height of 20 ft. or upwards in its native country, but seldom appearing of 
half that height, even in conservatories, in England. The leaves are large, 
somewhat like those of the common laurel but smaller, lanceolate, thinly dis- 
tributed on the lower parts of the shoots, but closer together near their points. 
The wood is hard, and finely scented, but fragile; and the bark is smooth, 
and russet-coloured. The fruit is composed of from 9 to 12 capsules (carpels) 
united at their base, and spread out at their extremities in the form of a star. 
Every carpel contains one oval seed, lance-shaped, and of a russet colour, 
which encloses a whitish kernel, somewhat oily, and agreeable to the taste, 
which is similar to that of the anise seed, but is more pungent. The shoots 
grow at about the same rate as those of the preceding species, and the plant 
attains its ultimate size of 10 ft. or 12 ft. in twenty or thirty years. 
Geography and History, It is found wild in China and Japan, where it is 
cultivated in gardens as a sacred tree, and also for its carminative and stomachie 
qualities. It was first described by Clusius, and afterwards seen in Japan by 
Kzmpfer, who has given us a great many interesting particulars respecting it. 
It was introduced into England in 1790, and soon after into the garden of 
Courset, near Boulogne-sur-Mer ; and it is now occasionally met with in the 
green-houses of the principal botanic gardens of the middle and north of 
Europe, and in the open ground of those in Italy. 
Properties and Uses. The whole plant is stomachic and carminative, and 
it is used in the East both medicinally and in cooking. The Chinese chew 
it after dinner to promote digestion, and as a sweetener of the breath: the 
same practice prevails in Japan. In some parts of the East Indies the leaves 
are mixed with tea and sherbet, and the capsules are imported from China 
into Europe, under the name of Chinese anise, for the purpose of flavouring 
dishes, and making the liquor called anisette de Bordeaux. The Chinese 
make an infusion of the seeds with the roots of ninsin (Sium Nénsi L.), and 
drink it, when they are fatigued, to recruit their strength and refresh their spirits. 
They also mix it both with coffee and tea, to improve the flavour. The cap- 
sules and seeds are infused in water, and fermented, so as to produce a vinous 
liquor, very much esteemed, and which the Dutch import under the name 
of anise arrack. Kempfer states that.a branch of this plant, though not 
poisonous in itself, if put into a decoction of the poisonous fish called by the 
Dutch opblaser (a species of Tétrodon), increases the violence of the poison 
and makes it occasion death almost instantaneously. (Kempf. Amen., fasc. v. 
p. 883.) The wood, which is called anise wood, is employed in cabinet-work : 
it is very hard and durable, but is rather brittle while being worked. In China, 
the watchmen powder the bark, and with it fill long narrow wooden tubes, 
which are graduated on the outside at regular distances. The powder 
is then lighted at the farther extremity of the tube, and, as it burns regularly 
and slowly, it is always the same time in burning a given distance; and the 
watchman, when he sees by the graduated scale that the flame has reached a 
certain point, rings a bell, thus forming of it a kind of pyrotechnic clock. 
The Japanese and Chinese consider the tree as sacred: they burn the bark as 
incense on their altars, and with the branches decorate the tombs of their 
friends, (Thouin, Dict. Agric.; Roy., Cours d’ Agric.) 
Soil and Situation as in the preceding species, of which this, as Thunberg 
conjectures, is, in all probability, only a variety. It is, perhaps, rather more 
tender, and, therefore, should be placed in the warmest situation that can be 
found, but where it will, at the same time, not be too much exposed to the 
direct influence of the sun during the hottest months. 
The Propagation and Culture are the same as of the preceding species. 
Plants are to be met with, in the principal London nurseries, at from 2s. 6d. to 
5s. each; and at Bollwyller, where the price is 3 francs; in New York, ?. 
