What is star anise?

Star anise is also known as fennel, star anise, star anise and fennel. It is a plant of the genus Illicium of Illiciaceae. Its dried fruit of the same name is one of the seasonings of Chinese cuisine and Southeast Asian cooking. The smell is fragrant and sweet. Use whole fruit or grinding powder. Next, please follow the editor to learn about star anise!

Star anise is a big material, and the same thing is called differently in the east, southwest and north. Southerners are called star anise and northerners are called star anise.

Morphological characteristics of star anise

Star anise is evergreen trees, up to 20 m high; bark gray to reddish brown. Leaves alternate, leathery, lanceolate to long-elliptic, 5-12 cm long and 1.5-5 cm wide, apex mucronate or shortly acuminate, base narrowly cuneate, with glossy and transparent oil spots above, sparsely pilose below; petiole stout, ca. 1 cm. Flowers open in spring, solitary leaf axils, perianth fleshy; sepals 3, yellowish green; petals 6-9, arranged in 2-3 whorls, pink or crimson, broadly ovoid or oblong; stamens 11-20, arranged in 2-3 whorls; carpels 8-9, separated, style short, base fleshy, stigma fine. The aggregate fruit is arranged in a star-shaped shape, 2.5 to 3.5 cm in diameter, with reddish brown mature carpels. Seeds oblate, brown, glossy. The top of the cymbal is pure or pure pointed, slightly reversed. Flowering occurs twice a year. The harvest period of spring fruit is from January to February, and that of autumn fruit is from August to September, mainly autumn fruit.

The value of medicine and food fruits and seeds can be used as seasoning, and it is also used as medicine in traditional Chinese medicine. The medical theory holds that it has strong fragrance and has the effects of repellent, warming and regulating qi, invigorating the stomach and stopping vomiting, dispelling cold, exciting nerves and so on. In addition to being used as a condiment, star anise can also be used in industry as raw materials for perfume, toothpaste, soap, cosmetics, etc., as well as medicine, wind repellent and stimulant. Its nature is warm and tastes pungent. It has the effect of warming yang and dispelling cold, regulating qi and relieving pain. It is used to treat cold vomiting, cold hernia, abdominal pain, kidney deficiency and low back pain, dry, wet beriberi and so on. Some modern studies have shown that it needs attention because it contains safrole.

Nutritional analysis of star anise

The fruit contains volatile oil, and its main components are anisole, anisaldehyde wrapped a href= https://www.zhifujing.org/special/wa/ target=_blank class=infotextkey > frog neodymium Ⅻ / p >

1. The main ingredient of star anise is fennel oil, which can stimulate gastrointestinal nerves and blood vessels, promote digestive juice secretion, increase gastrointestinal peristalsis, strengthen stomach and qi, help to relieve spasm and pain.

2. Anisene can promote bone marrow cells to mature and release into peripheral blood, which can significantly increase leukocytes, mainly elevated neutrophils, which can be used in leukopenia.

Pharmacological effects of Illicium verum

1. Bacteriostatic effect

Star anise perfume decoction has inhibitory effect on Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Bacillus subtilis, and its ethanol extract has strong inhibitory effect on Staphylococcus aureus, pneumococcus, diphtheria, right cold bacillus of Vibrio cholerae, paratyphoid bacillus, dysentery bacillus and some common bacteria. The bacteriostatic effect of Illiciaceae plants is related to the volatile oil they contain.

2. the effect of increasing white blood cells.

3. Analgesic effect

4. Other functions

Anisole has estrogenic effect and strong sensitization. Undergraduate plants have a certain toxicity, its toxic components are sesquiterpene lactones; some volatile oils also have a certain toxicity, its inhibition of the nervous system, can cause paralysis, central inhibition leads to death.