Illicium floridanum
Illiciaceae
anis étiolé, Florida anise-tree, Florida-anise
star-anise family
blade dark olive-green, elliptic to lanceolate, 5-21 × 1.5-6 cm, base cuneate, apex acute to acuminate.
blade fragrant (especially when bruised or crushed), translucent-dotted, ovate to lanceolate, pinnately veined, thin to leathery, margins entire.
2.5-5 cm diam.;
peduncle 1-11 cm;
bracteoles 3-6;
tepals 21-33, red-maroon, rarely white or pink, inner tepals ligulate;
stamens 25-50;
pistils 11-21.
bisexual, axillary or from main stem or older branches, solitary, pedunculate;
peduncle bracteolate;
perianth hypogynous;
tepals 7-33, imbricate, distinct, in 2-3 series, outer tepals small, sometimes bractlike, innermost more petaloid;
stamens 4-50, hypogynous, distinct, in 1-several series;
filaments ligulate to terete;
anthers basifixed, 4-locular, dehiscence longitudinal;
pollen 3-aperturate;
pistils simple, 5-21, distinct, closely laterally appressed in 1 series on convex axis, attached obliquely by broad base;
placentation nearly basal;
ovule 1 per locule;
stigmatic surface adaxial.
aggregates collectively 2.5-4 cm diam., usually with 10-15 pistils at maturity.
aggregates of radially arranged follicles;
dehiscence adaxial.
pale brown.
1 per follicle, ellipsoid to obovoid, somewhat flattened laterally;
endosperm copious, oily;
embryo minute.
= 26.
Illicium floridanum
Illiciaceae
Illicium floridanum was placed in Illicium sect. Badiana by A. C. Smith (1947). The flowers of the species are pollinated by a variety of insects; fruit set is low (L. B. Thien et al. 1983). The seeds are dispersed by explosive dehiscence of the follicles (M. L. Roberts and R. R. Haynes 1983).
This species is cultivated in southeastern United States (M. A. Dirr 1986) and elsewhere. Illicium mexicanum A. C. Smith was considered a separate species by A. C. Smith (1947); expressions of all characters used to differentiate the two species overlap, however, and it seems best to consider them conspecific.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Genus 1, species 42 (2 species in the flora).
Aromatic oils obtained from some members of this genus are used for flavorings and as carminatives; oil derived from Illicium anisatum Linnaeus is poisonous. Chinese star-anise, used widely for flavoring wine and cooking, is obtained from I. verum Hooker f. (J. Hutchinson 1973; C. E. Wood Jr. 1958). The Chinese drug pa-chio-hui-hsiang, used to treat vomiting, epigastric pain, and abdominal colic, is derived from ripe fruits of I. verum (Xiao P. G. 1989).
Illiciaceae are considered closely allied to Schisandraceae. Anatomic details of wood of Illiciaceae and Schisandraceae are nearly indistinguishable, differing only in details linked to the climbing habit of members of the latter (I. W. Bailey and C. G. Nast 1948; S. Carlquist 1982; A. C. Smith 1947). Studies of fossil pollen led J. W. Walker and A. G. Walker (1984) to conclude that Illiciaceae and Schisandraceae are allies of Winteraceae. Based on analysis of nucleotide sequences from the plastid gene rbcL, however, M. W. Chase et al. (1993) and Qiu Y. L. et al. (1993) concluded that Illiciaceae and Schisandraceae are closely allied and closely related to Austrobaileyaceae but distant from Winteraceae.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
LA Plants
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
