Common Name:
Anise Tree
About 40 species of broadleaf evergreen shrubs or trees, found in warm-temperature or subtropical regions. Leaves alternate, simple, leathery, margin entire. Flowers perfect, axillary, solitary, 3-6 sepals, petaloid, many petals. Fruit star-shaped, a whorl of 1-seeded follicles, finally dehiscent. Mostly native to southeast Asia, but two species in the US (I. floridanum and I. parviflorum).
Illicium: from the Latin, illicio, allurement, to attract, a reference to the fragrance.
Pronunciation:
i-LISS-i-um (il-LIK-ee-uM)
Family:
Illiciaceae