|
Download PDF
Pimpinella
anisum L.
Standardized Common
Name: Anise
Family: Apiaceae
(Umbelliferae)
Taxonomy: Pimpinella is
a genus of about 150 Old World herbs. Pimpinella anisum is one of 16
species that grows wild in Europe, and has been widely cultivated for
millennia. Synonyms include Anisum officinale DC., Anisum vulgare
Gaertn., Apium anisum Crantz and Pimpinella aromatica Bieb.
Description: Annual herb. Stem
(10–)30–50(–100) cm high, sometimes bearing small bristles. Leaves basal and
cauline; basal leaves petiolate, simple, ovate or reniform, 2–5 cm long, the
margins dentate to serrate; stem leaves with sheathing petioles, alternate,
1–2(–3)-pinnately or ternately compound, the leaflets ca. 1.5–4 cm long, linear
or ovate to rhomboid and toothed to deeply pinnatifid. Inflorescence a compound
umbel, long-peduncled, with 7–15 rays, bractless or with 1 linear bract;
umbellets 7–12(–15)-flowered, without bracteoles or with few small linear
bracteoles; flowers small, white or yellowish, 5-petalled. Fruit a schizocarp
of 2 mericarps, (2–)3–5(–7) mm long, ovoid, laterally compressed, constricted
at commissure, with short scaly hairs; vallecular vittae usually 3, commissural
vittae 2–4(–6); stylopodium conical.
Parts
in Commerce:
Fruits
Identification: See glossary for
explanation of the technical terms pertaining to umbel fruits.
- Schizocarp
usually intact, not split into individual mericarps, and often still
attached to the slender pedicel
- (2–)3–5(–7) mm
long
- Ovoid or
pear-shaped; apex narrowed and ending in conical stylopodium
- Broad at
commissure, but grooved on both sides between mericarps
- Greenish or
yellowish brown; ribs yellowish, paler than valleculae
- Ribs delicate,
threadlike, straight, at least as broad as high
- Pubescent with
small yellowish scaly hairs; hairs may be worn off, but are easiest to
observe in commissural grooves or in valleculae near apex
- Vittae usually
at least 3 per vallecula, quite inconspicuous; commissural vittae usually
2–4, observable in cross-section or in separated mericarps as pale ridges
on commissural face
- Endosperm in
cross-section flat along commissural face
- Odor of crushed
fruit strong, aromatic
- Taste
characteristic, aromatic, pleasant
Adulterants: Literature reports
adulteration by Petroselinum crispum (Mill.) A. W. Hill (Parsley), also
important in commerce, and Conium maculatum L. (poison hemlock), a toxic
plant that is no longer sold as medicinal. These share relatively small, ovoid
fruits with threadlike ribs (although some material of C. maculatum has
narrow, elongated fruits), but they may be distinguished easily by several morphological
features, as well as great differences in aroma and taste:
|
|
Pimpinella anisum
|
Petroselinum
crispum
|
Conium maculatum
|
|
Pubescence
|
Short
scaly hairs, often persistent only in grooves near apex and commissure
|
Hairless
|
Hairless;
minute teeth may be seen in valleculae of immature fruits
|
|
Primary
ribs (in dried fruits)
|
Straight;
usually at least as broad as high
|
Straight;
usually broader than high
|
Tend
to undulate especially in immature fruits; usually higher than broad; often
somewhat notched or toothed
|
|
Vittae
|
2
or more on commissural face, numerous and hard to observe in valleculae
|
2
on commissural face; 1 per vallecula, very broad, giving valleculae brown
color
|
Absent
at fruit maturity
|
|
Commissure
|
Fairly
broad (but narrower than fruit)
|
Constricted
|
Constricted
|
|
Endosperm
at commissural face in cross-section
|
Flat
|
Flat
|
Deeply
grooved |
References:
Arenas Posada JA, García Martín F. Atlas carpológico
y corológico de la subfamilia Apioideae Drude (Umbelliferae) en
España peninsular y Baleares. Ruizia. 1993;12:1–245.
Cappellettii EM. Botanical identification of Anise
and Hemlock fruits in powdered drug samples. Planta Med. 1979;39:88–94.
Matthews VA. Pimpinella. In: Davis PH. Flora
of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, vol. 4. Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press; 1972:352–364.
Tutin TG. Pimpinella. In: Tutin TG, Heywood VH, Burges NA, et al.,
eds. Flora Europaea. Vol. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press; 1968:331–333.
Tutin TG. Umbellifers of the British Isles.
London: Botanical Society of the British Isles; 1980. B.S.B.I. Handbook, No. 2.
Wichtl M, ed. Herbal Drugs and
Phytopharmaceuticals, 3rd English
ed. Stuttgart: medpharm Scientific Publishers and Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press;
2004:42–44.
Figure 55: a, Pimpinella anisum fruit; b, Petroselinum crispum fruit.
|
