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Pimpinella anisum

Common name:	Aniseed	Family:	Umbelliferae
Author:	L.	Botanical references:	50, 200
Synonyms:	Anisum vulgare (Gaertn.)
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	S. Europe - Greece.
Habitat:	Not known in a truly wild situation.
Edibility Rating (1-5):	3	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	3

Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Anason [E], Anasur [E], Anijs [D], Anis [E], Anise [L,H,E], Anise Burnet Saxifrage [P], Anise Burnet-saxifrage [B], Anisu [E], Anisun [E], Huai Hsiang [E], Huei Hsiang [E], Jintan Mantis [E], Pa Yueh Chu [E], Raziyana [E],
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Apiales. Renamed to Apiaceae -- Carrot family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	China; Europe; Iraq; Kurdistan; Malaya; Mexico; Spain; Turkey; Venezuela

Physical Characteristics

Annual growing to 0.45m by 0.15m . It is hardy to zone 8 and is frost tender. It is in leaf from May to October, in flower in July, and the seeds ripen from August to September. The scented flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Insects. The plant is self-fertile. We rate it 3/5 for edibility and 3/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires dry or moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

Condiment; Leaves; Seed; Tea.

Young leaves - raw or cooked[2, 14, 21, 37, 52]. The leaves have a sweet aniseed flavour, they are very refreshing to chew and are also nice as a flavouring in salads, puddings, soups, stews etc[183, K]. When adding to cooked dishes, only add the leaves for the last few minutes of the cooking or the flavour will be lost[K].
The aromatic seed is eaten raw or used as a flavouring in raw or cooked foods such as soups, pies, bread and cakes[2, 14, 20, 21, 27, 37, 244]. A distinctive sweet liquorice flavour[183], its use improves the body's ability to digest food[244]. The seed is harvested by cutting the whole plant when the seed is ripe. The plants are then kept in a warm, dry position for a week and then threshed to remove the seeds. Store the seeds in the dark in an airtight jar[244].
An essential oil from the seed is used as a food flavouring in sweets (especially aniseed balls) ice cream, chewing gum, pickles etc[57, 183, 238]. It is also often used to flavour alcoholic drinks such as pernod, ouzo and anisette[238, 244].
The leaves and the seeds can be brewed into a sweet liquorice-like tea[183].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Antiseptic; Antispasmodic; Aromatic; Carminative; Digestive; Expectorant; Galactogogue; Pectoral; Stimulant; Stomachic; Tonic.

Aniseed has a delicious sweet liquorice-like flavour and is a commonly used and very safe herbal remedy that is well suited for all age groups from children to the elderly. However, its use has declined in recent years with the advent of cheaper substitutes such as Illicium verrum and synthetic substances[238]. It is a particularly useful tonic to the whole digestive system and its antispasmodic and expectorant effects make it of value in the treatment of various respiratory problems[254]. The seed is the part used, generally in the form of an extracted essential oil[4]. The essential oil comprises 70 - 90% anethole, which has an observed oestrogenic effect whilst the seed is also mildly oestrogenic[254]. This effect may substantiate the herb's use as a stimulant of sexual drive and of breast-milk production[254]. The essential oil should not be used internally unless under professional supervision whilst the seeds are best not used medicinally by pregnant women, though normal culinary quantities are quite safe[254].
The seed is antiseptic, antispasmodic, aromatic, carminative, digestive, expectorant, pectoral, stimulant, stomachic and tonic[4, 9, 14, 20, 21, 46, 165, 201]. It is of great value when taken internally in the treatment of asthma, whooping couch, coughs and pectoral affections as well as digestive disorders such as wind, bloating, colic, nausea and indigestion[4, 254]. Externally it is used to treat infestations of lice, scabies and as a chest rub in cases of bronchial disorders[238]. A strong decoction of the seeds can be applied externally to swollen breasts or to stimulate the flow of milk[244].

We have a more details factsheet on the history and medicinal use of this plant. Email webmaster@pfaf.org for details.

Other Uses

Essential; Insecticide; Pot-pourri; Repellent; Teeth.

An essential oil is obtained from the seed, used in perfumery, tooth pastes, medicinally and as a food flavouring[57, 238].
The powdered seed can be used as a dentrifice and mouthwash[201].
The plant is an ingredient of pot-pourri.
The plant can be used as an insect repellent but it is also said to attract mice[14]. If aniseed oil is liberally smeared around live-traps it can attract mice and other rodents into them[4, 201]. The plants seem to be immune to the predations of slugs and snails and can help to protect neighbouring plants[201]. A spray made by boiling of one part coriander leaves and one part anise seeds in two parts of water is very effective against red spider mites and woolly aphids[201].

Cultivation details

Succeeds in ordinary garden soil[1] but prefers a fairly rich warm well-drained light soil in a sunny position[1, 27, 37, 52]. Prefers a pH in the range 6 to 7.5[238].
Aniseed has a very long history of herbal and culinary use, and is often cultivated for its edible and medicinal seed in warm temperate zones[46, 244]. The plant needs warm summers if it is to grow well and seeds only ripen in Britain in long warm summers[4, 37, 200].
Plants strongly resent root disturbance and should not be transplanted.
A good companion plant in the garden, its aromatic nature helping to keep nearby plants free of aphis etc. Its flowers attract parasitic wasps to the garden and these prey on a large number of garden pests[238]. Aniseed grows especially well with coriander[18, 20, 201].

Propagation

Seed - sow mid to late spring in situ. This sowing only succeeds in producing a crop of ripe seeds in years when the summers are hot[238].
A more certain crop (but much more labour intensive) can be obtained by sowing 4 - 5 seeds per pot in a greenhouse in early spring. They should germinate within 3 weeks. Thin if necessary to the best seedling and plant them out after the last expected frosts[K]. Aniseed strongly resents root disturbance.

Scent

Leaves: Crushed: The foliage has a strong aniseed fragrance.

Cultivars

'': No entries have been made for this species as yet.

Suppliers

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

Web References

Details of Medicinal Uses, Habitats, etc. in M. Grieve A Modern Herbal (1931) [4]
[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[V] Images from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A&M Bioinformatics Working Group.
[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.
[PHARM] Phytochemical Data (common names, uses, countries) from Dr Duke's Phytochemical Database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for pimpinella anisum (a possible synonym).

[HP] PhotoFrom Henriette's plant pictures
[HP] PhotoFrom Henriette's plant pictures

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

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

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[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]).

[2] Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications 1972 ISBN 0-486-20459-6
Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.

[4] Grieve. A Modern Herbal. Penguin 1984 ISBN 0-14-046-440-9
Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.

[9] Launert. E. Edible and Medicinal Plants. Hamlyn 1981 ISBN 0-600-37216-2
Covers plants in Europe. a drawing of each plant, quite a bit of interesting information.

[14] Holtom. J. and Hylton. W. Complete Guide to Herbs. Rodale Press 1979 ISBN 0-87857-262-7
A good herbal.

[18] Philbrick H. and Gregg R. B. Companion Plants. Watkins 1979
Details of beneficial and antagonistic relationships between neighbouring plants.

[20] Riotte. L. Companion Planting for Successful Gardening. Garden Way, Vermont, USA. 1978 ISBN 0-88266-064-0
Fairly good.

[21] Lust. J. The Herb Book. Bantam books 1983 ISBN 0-553-23827-2
Lots of information tightly crammed into a fairly small book.

[27] Vilmorin. A. The Vegetable Garden. Ten Speed Press ISBN 0-89815-041-8
A reprint of a nineteenth century classic, giving details of vegetable varieties. Not really that informative though.

[37] Thompson. B. The Gardener's Assistant. Blackie and Son. 1878
Excellent general but extensive guide to gardening practices in the 19th century. A very good section on fruits and vegetables with many little known species.

[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[50] ? Flora Europaea Cambridge University Press 1964
An immense work in 6 volumes (including the index). The standard reference flora for europe, it is very terse though and with very little extra information. Not for the casual reader.

[52] Larkcom. J. Salads all the Year Round. Hamlyn 1980
A good and comprehensive guide to temperate salad plants, with full organic details of cultivation.

[57] Schery. R. W. Plants for Man.
Fairly readable but not very comprehensive. Deals with plants from around the world.

[165] Mills. S. Y. The Dictionary of Modern Herbalism.
An excellent small herbal.

[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.

[201] Allardice.P. A - Z of Companion Planting. Cassell Publishers Ltd. 1993 ISBN 0-304-34324-2
A well produced and very readable book.

[238] Bown. D. Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses. Dorling Kindersley, London. 1995 ISBN 0-7513-020-31
A very well presented and informative book on herbs from around the globe. Plenty in it for both the casual reader and the serious student. Just one main quibble is the silly way of having two separate entries for each plant.

[244] Phillips. R. & Foy. N. Herbs Pan Books Ltd. London. 1990 ISBN 0-330-30725-8
Deals with all types of herbs including medicinal, culinary, scented and dye plants. Excellent photographs with quite good information on each plant.

[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.

[254] Chevallier. A. The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants Dorling Kindersley. London 1996 ISBN 9-780751-303148
An excellent guide to over 500 of the more well known medicinal herbs from around the world.

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
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We make no claims of magical effects or supernatural powers for any item in this catalog. In spite of legendary attributes or occult and craft tradition, such items are offered as curios only and beliefs concerning their magical effectiveness are related only for historical interest.