COMMERCIAL NOTES AND SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION. 93 
prices have gone down to about 4/11 p.Ib. Unfortunately that portion of the last crop 
of Tonquin star anise oil which still remains unsold is held for such a high price that 
it does not pay to use it it in the place of Chinese oil. 
We advise, moreover, great caution in the purchase of this article, for our friends 
inform us that there are oils on the market which, while possessing the normal sol. pt. 
of 15°, are partly abnormal in respect of their other properties, and appear to be 
adulterated. The nature of the adulteration is not stated, but it may perhaps consist 
again of additions of fatty oil or mineral oil, such as have already been observed in 
the past+). Such sophistications are recognizable by their poor solubility; a genuine 
star anise oil gives a perfectly clear solution with 1*/2 to 3 vols. a. m. of 90 p.c. 
alcohoi. 
According to a report by the Consul-General of the United States in Hong Kong’) 
the value of star anise oil in 1913 moved in sympathy with that of cassia oil, the 
quotations being as follows: January § 390.— local currency (= ,f' 197.— gold) per picul, 
May § 410.— local currency (= § 200.— gold) and at the close of the year § 335.— 
(= § 164,15 gold), the last-named being the bottom price of the year. So far as the 
Hong Kong market is concerned, the principal producing centre of both oils is the 
Province of Kwang-si. 
The value of the exports of star anise oil to the United States in 1913 was § 93199, 
as compared with § 92138 in the year 1912. 
A. Chevalier®) communicates interesting particulars on the cultivation of, and 
trade in, star anise in Tonquin. The parent-plant of star anise, Iliciwm verwm, Hook. f. 
{N. O. Magnoliacee), is a small evergreen tree, growing to a height of from 8 to 
15 metres, and resembling the cypress in its outline. The tree flowers twice a year. 
There are several varieties of Illicitum verum and in view of their possible economic 
utiliration it would be interesting to investigate them. It is very doubtful whether the 
star anise tree is found in the wild state; it is cultivated in the South of China, especially 
in the Province of Kwang-si and on the Island of Hainan. In Tonquin it is cultivated 
within a radius of from 20 to 30 kilometres of Lang-son*). The tree requires a very 
special climate, and this is the reason why its habitat is rather restricted. In the 
districts where the star anise tree flourishes the annual rainfall is about 1,50 m. 
Between April and July the temperature is very high, often as much as 40° C., August 
and September are cooler, with frequent rains, in October the weather is cool but 
dull and in December and January the thermometer often falls as low as 5° C., and 
at times even below freezing point. Then the air is very humid, and at this period 
mist or fine rain is not at all rare. 
The star anise tree prefers slopes with a soil of red clay mixed with slate. The 
best site for a star anise plantation is a forest-soil which has been made arable. The 
seeds soon lose their power of germinating, and if they are not sown at once it is 
well to preserve them in layers in dry earth. They germinate best in a covered 
nursery, which should be protected against the hot rays of the sun. During the dry 
season the young plants require watering, and when a year old they are planted out 
on the same site. The holes in which they are to be planted are dug out a long time 
beforehand, and should be at distances of 5 or 6 m. in crosswise rows. It is necessary 
*) Comp. Report April 1912, 120; October 1912, 105. — 2%) Daily Cons. and Trade Rep., Washington 17 
(1914), No. 56, p. 906. — #*) Journ. d’Agriculture tropicale 14 (1914), 40. — *) See the illustration at p. 399 
of Gildemeister and Hoffmann’s Die dtherischen Ole, 2.4 Ed. Vol. II. 
