412  Illudum  Beligiosmn  and  III.  Anisatum.     { ^"'Aug^^ggr""' 
:a  peculiar  odor  and  finally  carbonize  witliout  leaving  the  least  fixed 
residue.  A  small  quantity  submitted  to  sublimation  between  two 
watch  glasses  yielded  a  small  quantity  of  oily  sublimate,  which  did 
not  crystallize  from  aqueous  solution.  The  aqueous  solution  gave 
with  iodide  of  mercury  and  potassium  a  faint  turbidity  which  disap- 
peared with  excess.  The  solution  in  cliloroform  left  on  evaporation 
only  an  amorphous  residue.  In  a  small  specimen  no  nitrogen  could 
be  detected. — Abstract  from  Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  June  18. 
THE  BOTANICAL  RELATIONS  OF  ILLICIUM  RELIGI- 
OSUM,  SiEB.,  ILLICIUM  ANISATUM,  Lour.^ 
By  J.  F.  Eykman. 
The  question  as  to  the  identity  of  the  true  star-anise,  Illicium  ani- 
satum, Lour.,  with  the  ^'shikimi,"  has  been  repeatedly  discussed,  but 
cannot  be  finally  settled  until  the  parent  plant  of  the  former  is  well 
known  and  has  been  carefully  compared  with  that  of  the  latter. 
Probably  it  would  not  be  undesirable  if  I  add  here  some  general 
remarks  upon  both  plants. 
Japanese  Plant. — Illicium  religiosum,  Sieh.  (1837);  Illicium 
Japonicum,  Sieb.  (1825);  Illicium  anisatum,  X.,  Jap.  'SShikimi  no 
ki'^;  ^^Hana  Shik  mi"  ("Shikimi,"  also  ^vritten  "Sikimi"  and 
■^'Skimi/'  appears  to  be  derived  from  ''Ashikimi  "  =  Evil  Fruit) ; 
^'  Moso  ''—Chin.  "  Mang-tsao." 
According  to  Iwasaki  Jose,  author  of  the  Honzo  Zofu,"  it  is  also 
called  "  Hana  no  ki  "  (in  the  province  of  Harima)  and  Koshiba  "  (in 
the  province  of  Enshu  =  Totomi). 
According  to  Yamamoto  Boyo,  author  of  the  Hiakushinko 
(Description  of  a  Hundred  Drugs),  Illicium  religiosum.  Lour.,  both 
in  China  and  Japan,  is  called    Dai  ui  Kio."    According  to  Ito  Kei- 
suke  it  is  also  called  "  Iririshi  ya  mu." 
Illicium  religiosum,  Sieb.,  has  been  imported  into  Japan  from 
China,  and  probably  also  from  the  Korea,  since  the  earliest  times  of 
the  Buddha  priests.  In  the  present  day  it  is  still  looked  upon  as  a 
sacred  plant,  and  therefore  often  cultivated  near  Buddhist  temples, 
and  displayed  in  consecrated  vessels  at  religious  feasts.  It  is  also 
found  near  graves,  a  use  which  is  due  to  the  general  veneration  for  it, 
^Translated  from  the  "  Mittlieilungen  der  Deutschen  Gesellsehaft  fiir 
:Natur-  iind  Volkerkunde  Ostasiens,"  vol.  xxiii.     (Yokabama,  1881.) 
