246 SCIENTIFIC AND APPLIED PHARMACOGNOSY 



small octahedral or prismatic crystals or in rosette aggregates, seldom 

 in the form of large prisms. An important character is the presence 

 of more or less spheroidal secretory cells which are distributed in 

 among the parenchyma of the stem and leaves and contain either a 

 volatile oil or resin. In the leaves they give rise to pellucid dots, 

 which are apparent on holding the leaves to the light. 



ILLICIUM. Fructus Anisi Stellati, Chinese Anise or Star 

 Anise. The dried ripe fruit of Illicium verum Hook. f. (not Illicium 

 anisatum L.), a tree of the Magnoliacese, which is indigenous to 

 southeastern Asia and now extensively cultivated in southern China, 

 French Indo-China, Japan, the Philippines and Jamaica. Most of 

 the commercial supplies are shipped from Tonkin (Tongking) and 

 are used in the manufacture of a volatile oil, which closely resembles 

 the oil obtained from the fruits of Pimpinella Anisum and is recog- 

 nized by most of the Pharmacopoeias as a source of true oil of anise. 

 The carpels of the flower are erect, assuming a horizontal position 

 after fertilization, and the fruit is collected usually when the follicles 

 are more or less unequally developed. 



Description. Fruit consisting of 6 to 11 (usually 8) outspreading 

 boat-shaped follicles, arranged around the central axis or columella, 

 and subtended by a short nearly cylindrical stalk. Carpels unequal, 

 from 5 to 20 mm. in length and 5 to 12 mm. in height, broadly ovate, 

 laterally compressed; basal portion attached to the columella, flat; 

 "ummit acute and tapering to a nearly straight beak; outer surface 

 reddish-brown, nearly smooth or rough wrinkled; inner surface 

 light yellowish-brown, smooth and shiny and showing in the dehis- 

 cent capsules a single seed, which is compressed-ovoid, from 0.005 

 to 0.008 mm. in length, very smooth and shiny, marked at the pointed 

 end by a distinct hilum-scar, and on the edge with a narrow raphe; 

 odor and taste aromatic, resembling anise. 



Inner Structure. Outer epidermal layer of the pericarp made 

 up of cells with very thick, porous outer walls; the middle layer 

 composed of brown parenchyma and enclosing numerous oil-cells, a 

 few idioblasts and vascular bundles; an endocarp of a single layer 

 of palisade-like stone cells. The seed is made up of an outer layer 

 of very strongly thickened palisade-like stone cells, a broad layer of 

 loose parenchyma having more or less thickened walls and surround- 

 ing one or more rows of obliterated cells; the endosperm consists 

 of polygonal cells, containing an oily cytoplasm and numerous 

 aleurone grains; the latter vary from 0.010 to 0.026 mm. in diameter, 

 and are made up of one or more globoids and a large cystolith-like 

 globoid. In the columella occur a number of more or less branching 



