The Star Anise or Anise Seed,good remedy and useful seed step from ancient world.

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Star Anise Attributed Medicinal Properties and Constituents.

Star Anise extract INCI Name Illicium verum Extract Anise extract.Anise Seed extract Star Anise Fruit Fructus Anisi Stellati photo picture image Like anise, star anise has carminative, stomachic, stimulant and diuretic properties. In the East it is used to combat colic and rheumatism. It is a common flavouring for medicinal teas, cough mixtures and pastilles

Chinese star anise is an evergreen bush of the magnolia order grown in Vietnam and southern China. The ripe, strongly anise-smelling fruits open up in a star. They are used as a spice, and for the production of star anise oil by steam distillation.

Star anise oil is a colourless to pale yellow liquid which solidifies on cooling. The main component (80-90 %) is (E)-anethol. Star anise oil, and (E)-anethol isolated from it, is used in anise liqueur (Anisette, Sambuca) and anise brandy (Pernod, Ouzo, Raki, Arak), liquorice sweets, tooth-paste, etc. It has almost completely replaced the original anise seed oil, obtained from the umbellifer Pimpinella anisum.

Shikimic acid, used in the production of the antiviral drug Tamiflu(Roche), is extracted from the fruits of Chinese star anise and related species
(E)-anethol

Shikimic acid Star Anise extract INCI Name Illicium verum Extract Anise extract.Anise Seed extract Star Anise Fruit Fructus Anisi Stellati photo picture image Anisatin

Main constituents of Star Anise:

The dried fruits may contain 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. Traces of 1,4 cineol can be used to distinguish star anise from anise, which (like most other spices) is free of this compound.

ActiveCompounds:Volatile oil, l-4%, consisting of largely trans-anethole (70-90%), with estragole (methylchavicol), anisic acid, b-caryophylline, anisaldehyde, linalool, anise ketone (methoxyphenylacetone); the polymers of anethole, dianethole and photoanethole; an Egyptian variety carvene, carvone, and alpha-zingiberene. . Coumarins, such as bergapten, umbelliferone, scopoletin . Flavonoid glycosides including rutin, isovitexin, quercetin, luteolin, and apigenin glycosides . Phenylpropanoids, including l-propenyl-2-hydroxy-5-methoxy-benzene-2- (2- methyl-butyrate)! . Misc. lipids, fatty acids, sterols, proteins and carbohydrates.

Other Phytochemicals:Acetaldehyde, Alpha-pinene, Alpha-terpineol, Alpha-zingiberene, Anisaldehyde, Anisic-acid, Anisyl-alcohol, Ar-curcumene, Ascorbic-acid, Bergapten, Beta-bisabolene, Beta-pinene, Boron, Caffeic-acid, Calcium, Camphene, Chlorogenic-acid, Choline, Copper, D-carvone, Dianethole , Estragole, Eugenol, Fiber, Furfural, Hydroquinone, Imperatorin,Iron, Isoorientin, Isovitexin, Limonene, Linalool, Magnesium, Manganese, Mannitol, Methyl-chavicol,Myristicin, P-cresol, Phellandrene, Phosphorus, Potassium, Rutin, Scoparone, Scopoletin,Seselin, Squalene, Stigmasterol, Trans-anethole, Umbelliferone, Zinc

Star anise contains anethole, the same ingredient which gives the unrelated anise its flavor. Recently, star anise has come into use in the West as a less expensive substitute for anise in baking as well as in liquor production, most distinctively in the production of the liquor Galliano.