COMMON NAME. Aniseed.
    MEDICINAL PART. The fruit.
    Description. -- Anise has a perennial, spindle-shaped, woody root, and a smooth erect, branched stem, about ten or twelve inches in height. The leaves are petiolated, roundish, cordate, serrate; flowers small and white, disposed on long stalks. Calyx wanting, or minute. The fruit is ovate, about an eighth of an inch long, dull brown, and slightly downy.
    History. -- It is a native of Egypt, but now cultivated in many of the warm countries of Europe. The Spanish Aniseed is commonly used for medicinal purposes. The odor of anise is penetrating and fragrant, the taste aromatic and sweetish. It imparts its virtues wholly to alcohol, only partially to water. That used in cordials is the Star Anise, which is procured from the Illicium Anisatum, a plant of Eastern Asia. Its volatile oil is often fraudulently substituted for the European oil of anise.
    Properties and Uses. -- Stimulant and carminative; used in cases of flatulency, colic of infants, and to remove nausea. Sometimes added to other medicines to improve their flavor or to correct disagreeable effects.
    Dose. -- Of the seed, twenty to forty grains; essence, thirty drops to a teaspoonful.