Tall evergreen tree up to 10 m high, indigenous to southern China and Indochina. The plant has short-stemmed leaves, single axillary flowers from white to red in color and a whitish bark. Following pollination, the carpels (usually eight in number and each containing a single tiny seed) swell, assuming the characteristic star shape and reddish-brown color. The plant flowers all year round. The flavor obtained is sweet, not powerful. The active principle of star anise is anethole. The part used is the seed. Chinese star anise should not be confused with Japanese star anise (Illium lanceolatum A.C. Smith), which is highly poisonous.
Nine new phenylpropanoids (2 to 7, 10, 12 and 14) and two compounds representing novel structural classes of 7-O-8? and 7-O-8?.8-O-7? lignans (8 and 9, respectively) have been isolated from I. verum. Most of these compounds appear to be biogenetically derived from threo-anethole glycol.
