Yellow Anise – Illicium parviflorum

Evergreen, aromatic, large spreading shrub or small tree with wheel shaped fruits. Height: 23’ in cultivation to 40’. Diameter: 6”.

Leaves: evergreen, alternate or in 3’s or 4’s. 2-5” long, 1-2” wide. Elliptical, rounded or blunt at tip, short-pointed at base, not toothed, thin, dull green.

Bark: gray, smooth, becoming slightly fissured. Twigs: brown slender, hairless.

Flowers: 1/2” wide. 12-15 broad yellow sepals: 1-3 on slender stalks at leaf base; appear in late spring.

Fruit: 1” wide, half-found, spreading like a wheel or star. composed of 10-13 individual dry fruits, narrow and pointed, opening on top, and 1-seeded.

Habitat: wet soils along streams. Native to southeastern US. Sometimes planted as an ornamental in southeastern gardens.