164 FKUITS. 



(83) Star Anise Fruit. 



The fruit of Illicium verum, Hooker f. (N.O. Magnoliacese). 

 The pericarp of the fruit exhibits the following structure : 



(1) An outer epidermis composed of a single row of tabular 

 cells, which are covered with a thick cuticle bearing prominent 

 ridges. In surface view these cells are polygonal, brown, and 

 strongly striated. 



(2) A tissue corresponding to the inesocarp and differentiated 

 into an outer looser and inner denser portion. The outer 

 portioji is characterised by the presence of a large number o^ 

 oil-cells, which are more numerous towards the outside than 

 they are towards the interior ; the latter region is traversed by 

 fibro- vascular bundles. 



The inner portion of the mesocarp is parenchymatous 

 throughout nearly the whole of its extent, but at the margins, 

 which form the ventral suture, il lignifies and forms a strongly 

 developed mass of polygonal, thick-walled, pitted stone cells. 



(3) An inner epidermis, which varies in structure according 

 to the position it occupies ; that part of it that lines the loculus 

 of the carpel consists of elongated thin-walled cells, which, 

 in surface view, appear hexagonal. As the sutures by which 

 the carpel dehisces are approached the cells become shorter, 

 the radial and inner tangential walls become thicker, but the 

 outer tangential wall remains thin. 



The seed is covered by several layers of cells : 



(1) An epidermis of radially elongated cells with pitted walls 

 and small cavities ; in surface view they are seen to have sinuous 

 walls. 



(2) A central tissue differentiated into two layers, the outer 

 of which is composed of very large parenchymatous cells with 

 lignified, slightly thickened, pitted walls ; the inner layer 

 consists of smaller thin-walled cells. 



(3) An inner epidermis, the cells of which are strongly 

 axially elongated and contain crystals of calcium oxalate. 



The endosperm is built up of polyhedral cells containing 

 aleurone grains. 



The stalks, which are often attached to the fruits, are 

 characterised by the presence of a multitude of sclerenchymatous 

 cells of varying shapes, many being provided with more or less 

 prominent projections. 



The diagnostic characters of powered star anise fruit are : 



(a) The palisade epidermis of the seed. 



(b) The inner epidermis with calcium oxalate crystals. 



(c) The ligniHed parenchyma of the mesocarp. 



(d) The inner epidermis of the pericarp. 



(e) The outer epidermis of the pericarp, with striated cuticle. 



