Illicium anisatum - Köhler–s Medizinal-Pflanzen-075

''Illicium'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s treated as part of the family

Schisandraceae Schisandraceae is a family of flowering plants with 3 known genera and a total of 92 known species. Such a family has been recognized by most taxonomists, at least for the past several decades. Before that, the plants concerned were assigned to f ...

,''Illicium''.
Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS). or alternately as the sole genus of the

Illiciaceae Illiciaceae A.C.Sm. was a family of flowering plants recognized in a number of systems of plant taxonomy. The Illiciaceae is not recognized as a distinct family by the APG III system of plant taxonomy, the most well accepted system in use today ...

.Watson, L. and M. J. Dallwitz. 1992 onwards
Illiciaceae Van Tiegh.
The Families of Flowering Plants. Version: 19 August 2013. It has a disjunct distribution, with most species native to eastern

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

and several in parts of North America, including the southeastern United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean. General common names include star anise''Illicium''.
Flora of North America. and anisetree. The genus name comes from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''illicere'' ("to allure").

Description

''Illicium'' species are

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...

shrubs and small

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s. The leaves are alternately arranged and borne on petioles. The blades are glandular and fragrant. The flowers are solitary. They have few to many

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s in two or three rows, the inner ones like petals and the outer ones often smaller and more like bracts. A few to many stamens and

pistils Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) '' pistils' ...

are at the center. The fruit is an aggregate of follicles arranged in a star-shaped whorl. One seed is in each follicle, released when the follicle dehisces. The seed has a thick, oily endosperm.Illiciaceae.
Flora of North America.

Biology

These are plants of moist

understory In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but abo ...

, adapted to shady habitat, and some species are so sensitive to light that too much sunlight causes them significant stress, manifesting in

chlorosis In botany, chlorosis is a condition in which leaves produce insufficient chlorophyll. As chlorophyll is responsible for the green color of leaves, chlorotic leaves are pale, yellow, or yellow-white. The affected plant has little or no ability to ...

and necrosis of the leaves.Griffin, J. J., et al. (2004)
Photosynthesis, chlorophyll fluorescence, and carbohydrate content of ''Illicium'' taxa grown under varied irradiance.
''Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science'' 129(1), 46–53.

Uses

Several species are cultivated as

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that ...

s for their flowers, foliage, and fragrance, leading to the development of several

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...

s. Many taxa can only be grown in low-light situations. The essential oils of several species are used as

flavoring A flavoring (or flavouring), also known as flavor (or flavour) or flavorant, is a food additive used to improve the taste or smell of food. It changes the perceptual impression of food as determined primarily by the chemoreceptors of the gus ...

s and carminatives; however, the oils of ''I. anisatum'' and ''I. floridanum'' are toxic. ''I. verum'', the common star anise, is used to flavor food and liquor. Its fruit is a

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of acti ...

called ''bājiǎo huíxiāng'' (), which is used to treat abdominal pain and vomiting.

Diversity

''Illicium'' is a notably difficult genus to taxonomically classify. Many of the currently recognized species are lack distinguishing characters, and treatments tend to list many synonyms. Additionally, herbarium material is often poorly preserved or scarce. ;Species include:

References

External links

''Illicium'' species records.
Flora of China. {{Taxonbar, from=Q5492045 Angiosperm genera