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Anise
Botanical: Pimpinella anisum (LINN.)
Family: N.O. Umbelliferae
Part Used---Seeds.
Habitat---It is a native of Egypt, Greece, Crete and
Asia Minor and was
cultivated by the ancient Egyptians. It was well known to
the Greeks, being
mentioned by Dioscorides and Pliny and was cultivated in
Tuscany in Roman times.
In the Middle Ages its cultivation spread to Central Europe.
Description---Anise is a
dainty, white-flowered
urnbelliferous annual, about 18 inches high, with secondary
feather-like
leaflets of bright green, hence its name (of mediaeval
origin), Pimpinella, from
dipinella, or twicepinnate, in allusion to the form
of the leaves.
History---In this country
Anise
has been in use
since the fourteenth century, and has been cultivated in
English gardens from
the middle of the sixteenth century, but it ripens its
seeds here only in very
warm summers, and it is chiefly in warmer districts that it
is grown on a
commercial scale, Southern Russia, Bulgaria, Germany,
Malta, Spain, Italy, North
Africa and Greece producing large quantities. It has also
been introduced into
India and South America. The cultivated plant attains a
considerably larger size
than the wild one.
In the East Anise was formerly used with other spices in
part payment of
taxes. 'Ye pay tithe of Mint, Anise and Cummin,' we read in
the 23rd chapter of
St. Matthew, but some authorities state that Anise is an
incorrect rendering and
should have been translated 'Dill.'
In Virgil's time, Anise was used as a spice. Mustacae, a
spiced cake of the
Romans introduced at the end of a rich meal, to prevent
indigestion, consisted
of meal, with Anise, Cummin and other aromatics. Such a
cake was sometimes
brought in at the end of a marriage feast, and is, perhaps,
the origin of our
spiced wedding cake.
On the Continent, especially in Germany, many cakes
have
an aniseed
flavouring, and Anise is also used as a flavouring for
soups.
It is largely employed in France, Spain Italy and South
America in the
preparation of cordial liqueurs. The liqueur Anisette added
to cold water on a
hot summer's day, makes a most refreshing drink.
Anise is one of the herbs that was supposed to avert the
Evil Eye.
The oil extracted from the seed is said to prove a
capital bait for mice, if
smeared on traps. It is poisonous to pigeons.
Turner's Herbal, 1551, says that 'Anyse maketh
the breth sweter and
swageth payne.' 'The seeds,' says Delamer, Kitchen
Garden, 1861, 'are
much used by distillers to give flavour to cordial
liqueurs.' Anisette is a
liqueur flavoured with aniseed. Langham, Garden
Health, 1683, says: 'For
the dropsie, fill an old cock with Polipody and Aniseeds
and seethe him well,
and drink the broth.' The leaves are useful for seasoning
some dishes. The
essential oil of Anise is a good preventive of mould in
paste. The ground seeds
form an ingredient of sachet powders.
Cultivation----Sow the seed
in
dry, light soil, on a
warm, sunny border, early in April, where the plants are to
remain. When they
come up, thin them and keep them clean from weeds. Allow
about a foot each way.
The seeds may also be sown in pots in heat and removed to
a
warm site in May.
The seeds will ripen in England in good seasons if
planted in a warm and
favourable situation, though they are not successful
everywhere, and can hardly
be looked upon as a remunerative crop. The plant flowers in
July, and if the
season prove warm, will ripen in autumn, when the plants
are cut down and the
seeds threshed out.
Part Used---The fruit, or so-
called seeds. When
threshed out, the seeds may be easily dried in trays, in a
current of air in
half-shade, out-of-doors, or by moderate heat. When dry,
they are greyish brown,
ovate, hairy, about one-fifth of an inch long, with ten
crenate ribs and often
have the stalk attached. They should be free from earthy
matter. The taste is
sweet and spicy, and the odour aromatic and agreeable.
The commercial varieties differ considerably in size,
but the larger
varieties alone are official. The Spanish Anise, sold as
Alicante Anise, are the
largest and the best adapted for pharmaceutical use,
yielding about 3 per cent.
of oil. Russian and German fruits are smaller and darker
and are the variety
generally used for distillation of the volatile oil.
Italian Anise is frequently
adulterated with Hemlock fruit.
Constituents---Anise fruit
yields on distillation
from 2.5 to 3.5 per cent. of a fragrant, syrupy, volatile
oil, of which anethol,
present to about 90 per cent., is the principal aromatic
constituent. It has a
strong Anise odour and separates in the form of shining
white crystalline scales
on cooling the oil. Other constituents of the fruit are a
fixed oil, choline,
sugar and mucilage.
Oil of Anise, distilled in Europe from the fruits of
Pimpinella anisum,
Anise, and in China from the fruits of Illicium
anisatum, Star Anise, a
small tree indigenous to China, is colourless, or very pale
yellow, with taste
and odour like the fruit. The oils obtainable from these
two fruits are
identical in composition, and nearly the same in most of
their characters, but
that from Star Anise fruit congeals at a lower temperature.
The powdered drug
from Star Anise is administered in India as a substitute
for the official fruit,
and the oil is employed for its aromatic, carminative and
stimulant properties.
The bulk of the oil in commerce is obtained from the Star
Anise fruit in China.
The fruits are also often imported into France and the oil
extracted there.
Chinese Anise oil is harsh in taste.
Medicinal Action and Uses---
Carminative and
pectoral. Anise enjoys considerable reputation as a
medicine in coughs and
pectoral affections. In hard, dry coughs where
expectoration is difficult, it is
of much value. It is greatly used in the form of lozenges
and the seeds have
also been used for smoking, to promote expectoration.
The volatile oil, mixed with spirits of wine forms the
liqueur Anisette,
which has a beneficial action on the bronchial tubes, and
for bronchitis and
spasmodic asthma, Anisette, if administered in hot water,
is an immediate
palliative.
For infantile catarrh, Aniseed tea is very helpful. It
is made by pouring
half a pint of boiling water on 2 teaspoonsful of bruised
seed. This, sweetened,
is given cold in doses of 1 to 3 teaspoonsful frequently.
- Gerard said:
- 'Aniseed helpeth the yeoxing or hicket (hiccough) and
should be given to
young children to eat, which are like to have the
falling sickness
(epilepsy), or to/such as have it by patrimony or
succession.'
The stimulant and carminative properties of Anise make it
useful in flatulency
and colic. It is used as an ingredient of cathartic and
aperient pills, to
relieve flatulence and diminish the griping of purgative
medicines, and may be
given with perfect safety in convulsions. For colic, the
dose is 10 to 30 grains
of bruised or powdered seeds infused in distilled water,
taken in wineglassful
doses, or 4 to 20 drops of the essential oil on sugar. For
the restlessness of
languid digestion, a dose of essence of aniseed in hot
water at bedtime is much
commended.
In the Paregoric Elixir (Compound Tincture of Camphor),
prescribed as a
sedative cordial by doctors, oil of Anise is also included -
30 drops in a pint
of the tincture.
Anise oil is a good antiseptic and is used, mixed with
oil of Peppermint or
Gaultheria (Wintergreen) to flavour aromatic liquid
dentrifrices.
Oil of Anise is used also against insects especially
when mixed with oil of
Sassafras and Carbolic oil.
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