168 ODOROGRAPHIA. 



Australian Anise, — the fruit of Seseli Harveyanum, Mueller, 

 is said by Maiden* to be locally used in Australia under the name 

 of "Anise." It grows at an altitude of about 5000 feet on the 

 Snowy Mountains. In appearance and flavour the fruits resemble 

 those of Indian Fennel rather than anise. 



Star Anise, or "Badiane." The true Chinese "Star Anise'' 

 is the fruit of Illicium verum, Hooker, which was for the first time 

 figured and described in Curtis's Botanical Magazine, July, 

 1888, t. 7005. 



Illicium (meaning " allurement," from its odour and attractive 

 appearance) is a genus of aromatic evergreen shrubs or small trees, 

 Magnoliacece, found in Southern China, Japan, the Khasia Moun- 

 tains, and in the south-eastern parts of the United States. Their 

 smooth entire leaves exhale when bruised, a strong aromatic odour, 

 due to the volatile oil contained in minute pellucid vessels, which 

 may be seen by means of a lens. The flowers are borne singly or 

 in threes from the sides of the branches, usually of a yellowish 

 colour, except in one species where they are dark purple, and in 

 /. Verum, where they are tinged with red. They have a calyx of 

 3 or 6 sepals, coloured in the same manner as, and scarcely 

 distinguishable from, the petals, which vary in number from 9 to 30, 

 and are arranged in several series, the innermost ones being the 

 smallest ; the stamens are numerous, and the ovaries, varying from 

 6 to 18, are crowded together in a circle. The fruit, at maturity, 

 resembles a star, consisting of a variable number of one-seeded 

 flattened cells arranged round a central axis. 



Dr. Bretschneider, in Dec, 1880 (then medical officer to the 

 Eussian Embassy at Pekin), in " N'otes on some Botanical questions 

 connected with the Export Trade of China,"f states " the ]3lant 

 which produces this article (" Chinese Star anise ") is still unknown 

 to botanists," and he then goes on to remark : " The first authentic 

 information concerning the actual habitat of the star anise tree 

 was furnished by Mr. Piry, in his ' Eeport on the Trade in the Port 

 of Pakhoo' for the years 1878-1879, in which star anise is said to 

 be brought for exportation to Kin-chow and Pakhoi, from the 

 province of Kuangsi, two districts in that province producing the 



* Notes on Australian Economic Botany, p. 135. 

 t " China Review," ix., p. 283. 



