Flora of North America species comparison

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Illicium floridanum

Illicium parviflorum

anis étiolé, Florida anise-tree, Florida-anise

swamp star-anise, yellow anisetree, yellow-anise
Leaves

blade dark olive-green, elliptic to lanceolate, 5-21 × 1.5-6 cm, base cuneate, apex acute to acuminate.

blade dull green to olive, elliptic to obovate-elliptic, 5-13(-21) × 2-4(-6) cm, base acute, apex obtuse to rounded.
Flowers

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.

0.8-1.2 cm diam.;

peduncle 0.7-2.4 cm;

bracteoles 2-5;

tepals 11-16, yellow-green, inner tepals orbiculate-obovate;

stamens 6-7;

pistils 11-14.
Fruit

aggregates collectively 2.5-4 cm diam., usually with 10-15 pistils at maturity.

aggregates 2-3.5 cm diam., usually with 10-13 pistils at maturity.
Seeds

pale brown.

hazel brown.
2n

= 26.

= 28.

Illicium floridanum

Illicium parviflorum
Phenology Flowering midspring–early summer. Flowering late spring.
Habitat Along streams, in marshy areas, moist woods Moist woods, swamps
Elevation 0-500 m (0-1600 ft) 0-70 m (0-200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; ne Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
FL; GA
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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.)

Of conservation concern.

A. C. Smith (1947) placed Illicium parvifolium in Illicium sect. Cymbostemon (Spach) A. C. Smith. Illicium parviflorum is endemic to Lake, Marion, Orange, Polk, Seminole, and Volusia counties in Florida, and S. B. Jones and N. C. Coile (1988) reported the species as an escape in Thomas County, Georgia. Illicium parvifolium is cultivated in the southeastern United States and elsewhere; it has been frequently misidentified as I. anisatum Linnaeus, a taxon that differs from I. parviflorum in having larger, white tepals (M. A. Dirr 1986). The species may also be confused with the infrequently cultivated I. verum, which has fewer pistils (7-9[-10]) and more stamens (11-20).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 3. FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Illiciaceae > Illicium Illiciaceae > Illicium
Sibling taxa
I. parviflorum
I. floridanum
Synonyms Badianifera floridana, I. mexicanum Badianifera parviflora
Name authority J. Ellis: Philos. Trans. 60: 524. (1770) Michaux ex Ventenat: Tabl. Règn. Vég. 3: 71. (1799)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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