Common Name: small anise tree
Type: Broadleaf evergreen
Family: Schisandraceae
Native Range: Florida
Zone: 7 to 10
Height: 10.00 to 15.00 feet
Spread: 6.00 to 10.00 feet
Bloom Time: May to June
Bloom Description: Yellow-green
Sun: Part shade to full shade
Water: Medium to wet
Maintenance: Medium
Suggested Use: Hedge, Naturalize, Rain Garden
Flower: Insignificant
Leaf: Fragrant, Evergreen
Fruit: Showy
Other: Winter Interest
Tolerate: Heavy Shade, Erosion, Wet Soil
Culture
Winter hardy to USDA Zones 7-10 where it is easily grown in moist, rich soils in part shade to full shade. Tolerates full sun as long as soils are kept uniformly moist. Established plants tolerate some drought, but prefer good moisture. Branches may root where they touch the ground. Spreads by root suckers to form colonies.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Illicium parviflorum, commonly called yellow anise tree or small anise tree, is an upright, rounded, suckering, evergreen shrub or small tree that grows to 10-15' tall and spreads to 6-10' wide. It is endemic to central Florida where it grows in moist woods and swamps. Shiny, elliptic, olive-green leaves (to 4" long) emit an anise-like aroma when crushed. Insignificant yellow-green flowers (to 1/2" diameter) bloom from the leaf axils in late spring (May-June). Fruit is a star-shaped cluster of follicles. Yellow anise tree is protected in Florida as a threatened species.
Genus name comes from the Latin name illicium meaning allurement or inducement from the enticing aromatic scent.
Specific epithet means small flowers.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems.
Uses
Evergreen shrub which can be naturalized in moist shady landscape areas or woodlands. Borders. Foundations. Screen. Hedge.