_Anise_, _Aniseed_; F. _Fruits d’Anis vert_; G. _Anis_.
=Botanical Origin=—_Pimpinella Anisum_ L., an annual plant, is
indigenous to Asia Minor, the Greek Islands and Egypt, but nowhere to
be met with undoubtedly growing wild. It is now also cultivated in many
parts of Europe where the summer is hot enough for ripening its fruits,
as well as in India and South America. It is not grown in Britain.
=History=—Anise, which the ancients obtained chiefly from Crete
and Egypt, is among the oldest of medicines and spices.[1181] It
is mentioned by Theophrastus, by the later writers Dioscorides and
Pliny, as well as by Edrisi,[1182] who enumerates anise “sorte de
graine douce” among the products of Tunisia. In Europe we find that
Charlemagne (A.D. 812) commanded that anise should be cultivated on the
imperial farms in Germany. The Anglo-Saxon writings contain frequent
allusions to the use of dill and cumin, but we have failed to find in
them any reference to anise, nor in the _Meddygon Myddfai_.
The Patent of Pontage granted by Edward I. in 1305 to raise funds for
repairing the Bridge of London,[1183] enumerates _Anise_ (_anisium_)
among the commodities liable to toll. There are entries for it under
the name of _Annis vert_ in the account of the expenses of John, king
of France, during his abode in England, 1359-60;[1184] and it is one of
the spices of which the Grocers’ Company of London had the weighing and
oversight from 1453.[1185] By the _Wardrobe Accounts_ of Edward IV.,
A.D. 1480,[1186] it appears that the royal linen was perfumed by means
of “lytill bagges of fustian stuffed with ireos and _anneys_.”
[1180] The Leipzig Chamber of Commerce reports the quantity made by
four establishments in 1872, as 4350 kilo. (9594 lb.).
[1181] On the _Anise_ of the Bible, see note in our article Fructus
Anethi.
[1182] Page 150 of the “_Description_,” etc., quoted in the article
Fructus Carui, p. 305, note 5.
[1183] (Thomson, R.), _Chronicles of London Bridge_, 1827. 156.
[1184] Doüet d’Arcq, _Comptes de l’Argenterie des Rois de France_,
1851. 206. 220.
[1185] Herbert, _Hist. of the twelve Great Livery Companies of London_,
1834, 310.
[1186] Edited by N. H. Nicolas, Lond. 1830. 131.
Anise seems to have been grown in England as a potherb prior to 1542,
for Boorde in his _Dyetary of Helth_, printed in that year,[1187] says
of it and fennel,—“these herbes be seldom vsed, but theyr seedes be
greatly occupyde.”
In common with all other foreign commodities, anise was enormously
taxed during the reign of Charles I., the duties levied upon it
amounting to 75_s._ per 112 lb.[1188]
=Description=—Anise fruits, which have the usual characters of the
order, are about ²/₁₀ of an inch in length, mostly undivided and
attached to a slender pedicel. They are of ovoid form, tapering towards
the summit, which is crowned by a pair of short styles rising from a
thick stylopode; they are nearly cylindrical, but a little constricted
towards the commissure. Each fruit is marked by 10 light-coloured
ridges which give it a prismatic form; these as well as the rest of
the surface of the fruit, are clothed with short rough hairs. The drug
has a greyish brown hue, a spicy saccharine taste, and an agreeable
aromatic smell.
=Microscopic Structure=—The most striking peculiarity of anise fruit
is the large number of oil-ducts or vittæ it contains; each half of
the fruit exhibits in transverse section nearly 30 oil-ducts, of which
the 4 to 6 in the commissure are by far the largest. The hairs display
a simple structure, inasmuch as they are the elongated cells of the
epidermis a little rounded at the end.
=Chemical Composition=—The only important constituent of anise is the
essential oil (_Oleum Anisi_), which the fruits afford to the extent
of 3 per cent. from the best Moravian sort; Russian anise yields from
2·5 to 2·7 per cent., the German 2·3 per cent.[1189] This oil is a
colourless liquid, having an agreeable odour of anise and a sweetish
aromatic taste; its sp. gr. varies from 0·977 to 0·983. At 10° to 15°
C., it solidifies to a hard crystalline mass, which does not resume its
fluidity till the temperature rises to about 17° C.
Oil of anise resembles the oils of fennel, star-anise, and tarragon,
in that it consists almost wholly of _Anethol_ or _Anise-camphor_
described in the previous article (p. 309). This fact explains the
rotatory power of oil of anise being inferior to that of fennel. Oil
of German anise, distilled by one of us, examined under the conditions
stated, page 310, deviated only 1°·7, but to the left. _Franck_ (1868)
found oil of Saxon anise deviating 1°·1 to the right.
=Production and Commerce=—Anise is produced in Malta, about Alicante in
Spain, in Touraine and Guienne in France, in Puglia (Southern Italy),
in several parts of Northern and Central Germany, Bohemia and Moravia.
The Russian provinces of Orel, Tula and Woronesh, south of Moscow, also
produce excellent anise, and in Southern Russia, Charkow is likewise
known for the production of this drug. In Greece, anise is largely
cultivated under the name of γλυάισον, and it is much grown in Northern
India. Considerable quantities are also now imported from Chili. The
drug is, on the whole, always of a remarkably uniform appearance.
[1187] Reprinted for the Early English Text Society, 1870. 281.
[1188] _Rates of Marchandizes_, 1635.
[1189] Laboratory notes obligingly furnished by Messrs. Schimmel & Co.,
Leipzig. (1878).
=Uses=—Anise is an aromatic stimulant and carminative, usually
administered in the form of essential oil as an adjunct to other
medicines. It is also used as a cattle medicine. The essential oil is
largely consumed in the manufacture of cordials, chiefly in France,
Spain, Italy, and South America.
=Adulteration=—The fruits of anise are sometimes mixed with those of
hemlock, but whether by design or by carelessness we know not. Careful
inspection with a lens will reveal this dangerous adulteration. We have
known _powdered_ anise also to contain hemlock, and have detected it
by trituration in a mortar with a few drops of solution of potash, a
sample of pure anise for comparison being tried at the same time.
The essential oil of aniseed may readily be confounded with that of
Star-anise, which is distilled from the fruits of the widely different
_Illicium anisatum_. As stated at p. 22, these oils agree so closely
in their chemical and optical properties, that no scientific means are
known for distinguishing them.