Anise

Pimpinella anisum

Anise has been popular in the ancient Chinese and Ayurvedic (Indian) medical systems for many centuries. There are several varieties of aniseed, the most common being the ash-colored kind from Spain. Anise belongs to the same botanical family (Umbelliferae) as parsley and carrots.

Imagine having a tea that will get rid of oily skin, improve your memory, calm a nagging cough, produce breast milk for nursing mothers and serve as a natural antacid in place of either Tums or Rolaids for heartburn and indigestion. All these wonderful things can be accomplished simply by bringing 1 quart of water to a boil. Then add about 7 teaspoons of aniseed, reduce heat and simmer contents down to 1-1/2 pints. Strain and, while still warm, add 4 teaspoons each of honey and glycerine (obtained from a drugstore to preserve syrup tea). Take 2 teaspoons of this syrup every few hours to relieve hacking coughs, or 2 tablespoons three times daily to strengthen the memory. If using as a tea, omit and drink 2 cups once or twice daily for skin problems, milk needs or to relieve stomach problems.

Anise has been cultivated in Egypt for at least 4,000 years. Pharaonic medical texts indicate that the seeds were used as a diuretic, to treat digestive problems, and to relieve toothache. The plant was also well known to the ancient Greeks. Dioscorides (1st century AD) wrote that anise "warms, dries and dissolves; facilitates breathing, relieves pain, provokes urine and eases thirst." In his A New Herball of 1551, William Turner recorded that "Anyse maketh the breth sweter and swageth payne."

Other names

• Aniseed
• Anise Plant
• Common Anise
• Hua-hsian
• Sweet Cumin

Parts used

Seeds, essential oil.

Uses

Anise seeds are well known for their ability to reduce gas and bloating, and to settle the digestion. They are commonly given to infants and children to relieve colic, and to people of all ages to relieve nausea and indigestion. Anise seeds' antispasmodic properties make them helpful in countering, menstrual pain, asthma, whooping cough, and other spasmodic coughs, and bronchitis. Their expectorant action justifies their use for these respiratory ailments. Anise seeds are thought to increase breast-milk production, and may be beneficial in treating impotence and frigidity. Anise essential oil is used for similar complaints, and is also used externally for lice and scabies.
CAUTIONS Do not take the essential oil internally except under professional supervision. Do not take anise during pregnancy, except in amounts normally used in cooking.

Habitat & cultivation

Anise is native to the eastern Mediterranean, western Asia, and North Africa. Anise is widely cultivated for its seeds, which are used both medicinally and as a flavoring agent in cooking.
Annual. Sow seeds in a dry, light soil in early summer. Thin seedlings to 4 inches apart. Anise needs 120 frost-free days to produce fully ripened seed heads.

Constituents

Anise contains a volatile oil (comprising 70-90% anethole, together with methyl chavicol and other terpenes) , furanocoumarins, flavonoids, fatty acids, phenylpropanoids, sterols, and proteins. Anethole has an observed estrogenic effect, and the seeds as a whole are mildly estrogenic. This effect may substantiate the herb's use as a stimulant of  breast-milk production.

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