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Illicium floridanum

Common name:	Aniseed Tree	Family:	Illiciaceae
Author:	J.Ellis.	Botanical references:	72, 200
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	Although no mention of toxicity has been seen for this species, at least one other member of the genus has a fruit that is poisonous in quantity[19, 177].
Range:	South-eastern N. America - Florida to Louisiana.
Habitat:	Lowland wet areas, often in sandy soils along streams, swamps and at the head of bays[229], in light woodland and thickets[200].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	1	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Florida Anisetree [P,B],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	florida = flowering
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Illiciales. Star-anise family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Mexico

Physical Characteristics

An evergreen shrub growing to 2m by 2m at a slow rate. It is hardy to zone 7 and is frost tender. It is in leaf all year, in flower from May to June, and the seeds ripen in October. The scented flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs). We rate it 1/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers acid and neutral soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It requires moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Woodland, Sunny Edge, Dappled Shade.

Edible Uses

Condiment.

Said to be used as a spice[105, 177, 183]. No further details are given, but the leaves have a strong aroma of aniseed[245].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

Prefers a light, moist well-drained loam and a sheltered position[1, 11] Prefers a humus-rich lime-free soil[182, 200]. A plant of woodland shade in its native habitat, in the less sunny British climate it succeeds in sun or semi-shade[200, 260].
This species is not very cold-hardy, it tolerates temperatures down to between -5 and -10° c, only succeeding outdoors in the mildest areas of Britain[1, 11, 166].
A slow-growing tree[229], the whole plant is very aromatic[182]. The bruised leaves have a strong scent of aniseed, whilst the flowers have a powerful spicy odour[245].
Suckers can spring up at some distance from the parent plant[260].

Propagation

Seed - it does not require pre-treatment and can be sown in early spring in a greenhouse[113]. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first winter. Plant out in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts, and give some protection from the cold over the winter for the first year or two.
Layering in early spring. Takes 18 months[78].
Cuttings of half-ripe wood, August in a frame[113]. Pot up the cuttings when they start to root and grow them on in the greenhouse for their first winter, planting out after the last expected frosts.
Suckers are sometimes produced at some distance from the parent plant. These suckers can be potted up in early spring, then grown on for a year before planting them out into their permanent positions.

Scent

Flowers: Fresh: The flowers diffuse a powerful spicy odour.
Leaves: Crushed: The bruised leaves have a strong scent of aniseed.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

PFAF Web Pages

This plant is mentioned in the following web pages

Web References

[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for the family Illiciaceae.

To be included in the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[11] Bean. W. Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Vol 1 - 4 and Supplement. Murray 1981
A classic with a wealth of information on the plants, but poor on pictures.

[19] Stary. F. Poisonous Plants. Hamlyn 1983 ISBN 0-600-35666-3
Not very comprehensive, but easy reading.

[72] Small. Manual of the Southeastern Flora.
Getting rather dated now, it covers Southeastern N. America. No pictures, it is not for the casual reader.

[78] Sheat. W. G. Propagation of Trees, Shrubs and Conifers. MacMillan and Co 1948
A bit dated but a good book on propagation techniques with specific details for a wide range of plants.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[113] Dirr. M. A. and Heuser. M. W. The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation. Athens Ga. Varsity Press 1987 ISBN 0942375009
A very detailed book on propagating trees. Not for the casual reader.

[166] Taylor. J. The Milder Garden. Dent 1990
A good book on plants that you didn't know could be grown outdoors in Britain.

[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[182] Thomas. G. S. Ornamental Shrubs, Climbers and Bamboos. Murray 1992 ISBN 0-7195-5043-2
Contains a wide range of plants with a brief description, mainly of their ornamental value but also usually of cultivation details and varieties.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[229] Elias. T. The Complete Trees of N. America. Field Guide and Natural History. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co. 1980 ISBN 0442238622
A very good concise guide. Gives habitats, good descriptions, maps showing distribution and a few of the uses. It also includes the many shrubs that occasionally reach tree proportions.

[245] Genders. R. Scented Flora of the World. Robert Hale. London. 1994 ISBN 0-7090-5440-8
An excellent, comprehensive book on scented plants giving a few other plant uses and brief cultivation details. There are no illustrations.

[260] Phillips. R. & Rix. M. Conservatory and Indoor Plants Volumes 1 & 2 Pan Books, London. 1998 ISBN 0-330-37376-5
Excellent photos of over 1,100 species and cultivars with habits and cultivation details plus a few plant uses. Many species are too tender for outdoors in Britain though there are many that can be grown outside.

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
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