Illicium verum Hooker fil. (star anise)

Illicium verum Hooker fil. (star anise)
It is a shaped fruits, always used in dried state. Besides the regular eight-pointed shape one rarely finds specimen with a larger number of carpels. Each 12 mm long and 6 mm to 11 mm thick, radially around a short, central and blunt-ending.

Malay called it bunga lawang. It use for cooking and also for medicinal purpose. It used to cure colic and rheumatic. Sometimes the star anise tea drinks for the purpose to cure pregnant woman morning sickness.

There is an essential oil resides in pericarp, not in the seed. It contains 5 to 8 % of essential oil, which dominated by anethole (85 to 90%). The other components, phellandrene, safrole and terpineol, have only small effect on the aroma.
Illicium verum Hooker fil. (star anise)