Anise
Parts Usually Used
Seed
Description of Plant(s) and Culture
An annual plant; the spindle-shaped, thin, woody root sends up a round, grooved, branched stem up to 1 1/2 feet high. The lowest leaves are round-cordate and long-petioled, the middle leaves are pinnate, and those at the top are incised into narrow lobes. The small, white flowers appear in compound umbels during July and August. The downy, brown ovate fruit is about 1/8 inch long and ripens during August and September.
The whole plant has a fragrant odor, and the seeds taste sweet when chewed. It has a licorice-like flavor.
Where Found
Anise occurs wild but is widely cultivated. Native to the Mediterranean.
Medicinal Properties
Antispasmodic, antiseptic, aromatic, carminative, digestive, expectorant, stimulant, stomachic, tonic
Biochemical Information
Essential oil with anethole, choline, fatty oil
Legends, Myths and Stories
Most people don’t think of anise in terms of its popularity with mice, but in the 16th century, anise found wide application as a mouse-trap bait. According to several old herbals, the mice found it irresistible. The Romans served a wedding cake strongly flavored with anise seeds to help prevent indigestion caused by overeating at the marriage banquet. From this ancient practice came the tradition of baking special cakes for weddings.
Anise is called Huai-hsiang in China, eaten to relieve flatulence and griping bowels. The Herbal Almanac states the a few drops of Oil of Anise, or Oil of Rhodium on a trappers bait will entice any wild animal into the snare trap.
Uses
Historically, herbalists utilized anise to support digestion, stimulate the appetite, and address flatulence, nausea, cramps, and bad breath. Traditional practitioners recommended it as an expectorant for coughs and colds, as well as an inhalant for laryngitis. Anise water was traditionally employed as an eyewash and to encourage lactation in nursing mothers, while an infusion of the plant was believed to promote menstruation.
Folk traditions made use of anise oil as a stomach tonic and an antispasmodic for cramping. A preparation of the seeds steeped in hot milk was historically taken for sleeplessness, and the plant was also formulated into salves intended for external pests like lice. Herbalists frequently combined anise with caraway and fennel as a digestive tea, and they routinely added the sweet seed to mask the taste of unpalatable medicines.
Preparations containing anise oil, such as the liqueur anisette, were historically administered in warm water for bronchial and respiratory complaints. Beyond its medicinal applications, anise was widely employed in culinary traditions.
How Sold
Seed
Bibliography
, Loma Linda, CA 92354, Original copyright 1939, revised edition 1994 The Herb Book , by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974. Old Ways Rediscovered , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, published from 1954, print 1988 The Nature Doctor: A Manual of Traditional and Complementary Medicine , by Dr. A. , 27 Pine Street (Box 876) New Canaan, CT.
06840-0876. Copyright Verlag A. Vogel, Teufen (AR) Switzerland 1952, 1991 Chinese Medicinal Herbs , compiled by Shih-Chen Li, Georgetown Press, San Francisco, California, 1973. , Simon & Schuster/Fireside, Rockefeller Center 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020 The Herbalist Almanac , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, copyright 1988, fifth printing, 1994 Indian Herbalogy of North America , by Alma R.
, Lotus Press, PO Box 325, Twin Lakes. , West Nyack, NY, 1987. , 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023 The Magic of Herbs in Daily Living , by Richard Lucas, Parker Publishing Co. (1988). The Rodale Herb Book: How to Use, Grow, and Buy Nature’s Miracle Plants (An Organic gardening and farming book) , edited by William H. Hylton, Rodale Press, Inc. , 1974 The Yoga of Herbs: An Ayurvedic Guide to Herbal Medicine , by Dr.
David Frawley & Dr. Vasant Lad, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, Second edition, 1988.