174 ODOROGRAPHIA. 



Japanese Star Anise. Illicmm religiosum, Siebold and 

 Zuccarini, Flor. Jap., i., t. 1. ; Bot. Mag., t. 3965, Syn., I. anisahwi, 

 Linn, and Loureiro, Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plant., i., t. 10, was 

 for many years supposed to be the tree yielding the true Chinese 

 Star anise, but, as now pointed out by Hooker, /. anisatum, or 

 religiosum, are species with peduncles bracteate at the base and 

 long, spreading inner perianth segments, therefore belong to a 

 difierent section of the genus from /. verum. 



The Japanese tree is locally known as " Shikimi no Ki," and 

 generally considered in Japan to be poisonous. The name is also 

 written '•' Hana Shik'mi," " Sikimi," and " Skimi " ; it appears to be 

 derived from "Ashikimi," meaning Evil fruit. The Chinese name 

 is " Mang-thsao," Mang meaning " mad," and thsao " herb," 

 because it is said to cause paroxysms of frenzy in human beings. 

 According to Iwasaki Jose, author of the " Honzo Zofu," it is called 

 " Hana-no-Ki " in the province of Harima, and " Koshiba " in the 

 province of Enshu. According to Yamomoto Boyo, author of the 

 " Hiaku-shinko " (Description of a Hundred Drugs), /. religiosum, 

 both in China and Japan is called " Dai ui Kio." According to 

 Ito Keisuke, it is also called " Irirshi ya mu." 



Many botanists have taken /. religiosum and /. anisatum to be 

 identical, but Siebold mentions points of distinction, saying, for 

 instance, that the former is 25 to 30 feet high, or two or three 

 times the height of the latter ; that its leaves are broader in the 

 middle, and more glaucous and pale on the under surface ; he also 

 observes that it has a less number of stamens and petals than /. 

 anisatum. 



Although the tree now grows wild in many parts of Japan, 

 it is not a native, but was introduced from China or the Corea 

 in ancient times by the Buddhist priests, and planted around 

 the Japanese temples, being used when in blossom for adorning 

 the altars and tombs. The yellow^ish bark has an aromatic 

 taste, also the leaves, and, these being powdered, are used 

 in the manufacture of long, thin, cylindrical pastilles (" sen-ko ") 

 as incense in the Buddhist temples and in religious services. 

 Formerly such straight or circularly bent cylinders, which, when 

 lighted, burned regularly, were used as time-measures. 



The tree has been found in the neighbourhood of Nagasaki, in 

 the centre of Nippon, near Tokio; upon the Iwaya mountains, near 



