magnoliace.e, wintered. 55 



Plate 21. 

 ILLICIUM, L. 



Flores hermaphroditi. Sepala 3 vel 6. Pctala 9 - 30, 

 tri - pluriseriata. Stamina indefinita : antherae introrsum 

 adnata?. Folliculi plurimi, drupacei, circa columnam brevis- 

 simam arete verticillati, stellato-patentes, denique bivalves, 

 monospermi. — Arbuscnlas sempervirentes, Anisum spirantes. 



Illiciom, Linn. Gen. 611. Ellis, in Phil. Trans. 60. p. 524. Ga?rtn. Fr. 

 t. 69. Lam. 111. t. 493. DC. Syst. 1. p. 440. Sieb. & Zucc. Fl. 

 Jap. 1. p. 5. t. 1. Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. Am. 1. p. 42. Endl. 

 Gen. 4743. 



Star-Anise. 



Flowers perfect. Calyx of 3 or 6 petaloid sepals, im- 

 bricated in aestivation, caducous. Petals 9 to 30, imbri- 

 cated in aestivation in 3 or several series, the inner succes- 

 sively narrower, hypogynous, spreading, deciduous. Sta- 

 mens indefinite (12 to 40) in several series, hypogynous, 

 spreading : filaments short and fleshy : anthers adnate, in- 

 trorse ; the two oblong cells contiguous or nearly so, opening 

 longitudinally. Pistils 6 to 18, compressed, crowded in a 

 circle, closely sessile, and broadly inserted around a central 

 short and conical prolongation of the receptacle : ovary one- 

 celled, one-ovuled : style subulate, recurved, stigmatose 

 down the inner edge. Ovule ascending from some part of 

 the ventral suture, anatropous, the raphe ventral. 



Fruit a whorl of distinct drupaceous follicles, stellately 

 divaricate, compressed, woody-crustaceous at maturity, when 

 the thin sarcocarp dries up, dehiscent by the whole length 

 of the ventral suture, at length two-valved. Seed ascend- 

 ing from the base of the cell, which it fills, obovate, com- 

 pressed-lenticular, the hilum lunulate ; the crustaceous testa 

 very smooth and shining, brittle (loosely adhering to the ob- 

 scurely sculptured surface of the spongy-membranaceous in- 



