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Illicium verum Hook.f. (Schisandraceae)

(Syns.: I. anisatum Lour.; Badianifera officinarum Kuntze.)

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Handbook of 200 Medicinal Plants

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Abstract

This evergreen aromatic tree is indigenous to southwest China, and Vietnam. It had been used in China and Japan for a long time, but was not known to Indians and Persians, and was introduced to Europe in the sixteenth century. In TCM it is described as stomachic and stimulant, and used to dispel cold, regulate the flow of Qi and to relieve pain. In European medicine also, it is described as aromatic, stimulant and carminative. It is best used in the form of infusion. An herbal tea or infusion is used to treat colic pain in infants in many cultures. Anise oil is also applied to the abdomen of children to relieve colicky pains, to joints in rheumatism, and around the ear in cases of earache. Three neurotropic sesquiterpenoids, veranisatins A–C, were isolated from star anise . Volatiles, secoprezizaane-type sesquiterpenes, phenylpropanoids, phenylpropanoid glucoside, phytoquinoids, lignans, flavonoids, and illiciumflavane acid have been reported from the fruits. Substantial antibacterial activity of supercritical CO2 and ethanol extracts of fruits against clinical drug-resistant isolates, including A. baumannii, P. aeruginosa, and MRSA strains was reported. Anise oil exhibited in vitro virucidal activity against HSV-2, aciclovir-sensitive HSV-1 and an aciclovir-resistant clinical HSV-1 isolate as well as an aciclovir-resistant strain. Methanol fruit extract prolonged phenobarbitone-induced sleeping time, reduced locomotor activity, and produced alteration in general behavior pattern, and anxiolytic effects without significantly altering motor coordination.

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  1. Stockton, CA, USA

    Shahid Akbar

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Akbar, S. (2020). Illicium verum Hook.f. (Schisandraceae). In: Handbook of 200 Medicinal Plants. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16807-0_111

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