^43 
PIMPINELLA ANISUM. 
Anise.'* 
Clq,ss Pentandria.. — Order Digynia. 
Nat. Ord. Umbellate. Linn. Juss, 
Gen. Char. Fruit ovate, oblong. Petals inflected. Stigma 
nearly globular. 
Spec. Char. Radical Leaves ihree-deft, laciniated. 
This species of Pimpinella is the Avvvi<70V of Dioscorides. It is a 
native of Egypt, but roucli cultivated in the south of Europe, parti- 
cularly in Malta and Spain. Anise was cultivated in this country 
about the year 1551, but although the seed will ripen here, our 
summers are seldom warm enough to bring it to perfection ; hence 
the seed is annually imported from Malta and Spain. Anise 
is an annual plant; the root is tapering; the stem rises about 
one foot in height, branched, smooth, striated, and jointed; the 
leaves on the lower part of the stem are of a roundish form, 
divided into three or five, indented or toothed, and stand upon long 
sheath-like footstalks, but the upper ones are divided into narrow 
pinnated segments; the flowers are small and white, and terminate 
the branches in flat umbels, without involucres ;.the corolla consists 
of five petals, which are ovate, and bent inwards at their extremi- 
ties; the filaments are white, tapering, spreading, and furnished 
with roundish anthers ; the germen is ovate, striated ; the styles are 
short, and crowned with simple stigmata; the seeds are oblong, 
swelling, striated, and of a greenish colour. 
Sensible Qualities, &c. The seeds have an aromatic smell, 
and a pleasant warm taste, accompanied with a considerable degree 
of sweetness. Infused in water, they impart a little of their odour, 
but scarcely any flavour: in distillation, they give out the whole 
of their flavour both to spirit and water. When distilled with 
water, they yield a volatile oil of a yellowish colour. This oil con- 
* Fig. «. radical leaf, b. Seeds, c. Flower, magnified. 
