FRUCTUS A^'ISI. 311 



from 1453.' By the Wanlrobe Accounts of Edward IV., a.d. 1480,2 jt 

 appeal's that the royal linen was perfumed by means of " lytill bagges 

 of fustian stuffed with ireos and anneys." 



Anise seems to have been grown in England as a potherb prior to 

 1542, for Boorde in his Dyetary of Heltk, printed in that year,^ says of 

 it and fennel, — " these herbes be seldom vsed, but theyr seedes be gi'eatly 

 occupyde." 



In common with all other foreign commodities, anise was enormously 

 taxed during the reign of Charles I., the duties levied upon it amounting 

 to 758. per 112 Yb.* 



Description — Anise fruits, which have the usual characters ot the 

 order, are about -f^ of an inch in length, mostly undivided and attached 

 to a slender pedicel. They are of ovoid form, tapering towards the 

 summit, which is crowned by a pair of short styles rising from a thick 

 stylopode; they are nearly cylindrical, but a little constricted towards the 

 commissure. Each fruit is marked by 10 light-coloured ridges which 

 give it a prismatic form ; these as well as the rest of the surface of the 

 fruit, are clothed with short rough hairs. The drug has a greyish brown 

 hue, a spicy saccharine taste, and an agreeable aromatic smell. 



Microscopic Structure — The most striking peculiarity of anise 

 fruit is the large number of oil-ducts or vittae it contains ; each half of 

 the fruit exhibits in transverse section nearly 30 oil-ducts, of which the 

 4 to 6 in the commissure are by far the largest. The hairs display 

 a simple structure, inasmuch as they are the elongated cells of the 

 epidermis a little rounded at the end. 



Chemical Composition — The only important constituent of anise 

 is the essential oil (Oleum Anisi), which the fruits afford to the extent 

 of 3 per cent, from the best Moravian sort ; Russian anise yields from 

 2'5 to 27 per cent., the German 2'3 per cent.^ This oil is a colourless 

 liquid, having an agreeable odour of anise and a sweetish aromatic 

 taste ; its sp. gr. varies from 0977 to 0-983. At 10° to 15° C, it solidi- 

 fies to a hard crystalline mass, which does not resume its fluidity till 

 the temperature rises to about 17° C. 



Oil of an isa resembles the oils of fennel, star-anise, and tarragon, in 

 that it consists almost wholly of Anethol or Anise-camphor described 

 in the previous article (p. 309). This fact explains the rotatory power 

 of oil of anise beiuor inferior to that of fennel. Oil of German anise, 

 distilled by one of us, examined under the conditions stated, page 310, 

 deviated only 1°7, but to the left. Franck (1868) found oil of Saxon 

 anise deviating 1°*1 to the right. 



Production and Commerce — Anise is produced in Malta, about 

 Alicante in Spain, in Touraine and Guienne in France, in Puglia 

 (Southern Italy), in several parts of Xorthem and Central Germany, 

 Bohemia and Moravia. The Russian provinces of Orel, Tula and 

 Woronesh, south of Moscow, also produce excellent anise, and in 

 Southern Russia, Charkow is likewise known for the production of 



^ Herbert, Hist, of the twelve Great Livery Society, 1870. 281. 



Companies of London, 1834, 310. * Sates of Marchandizes, 1635. 



^ Edited lay N. H. Nicolas, Lond. 1830. ' Laboratory notes obligingly fumished 



131. by Messrs. Schimmel & Co., Leipzig. 



» Reprinted for the Early English Text (1878). 



