* Please Note: This information is based partly on Traditional Medicine which uses natural materials to support health. This information has not been evaluated or approved by the FDA. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These products are intended to support general well being and are not intended to treat, diagnose, mitigate, prevent, or cure any condition or disease. If conditions persist, please seek advice from your medical doctor.
Description
Medicinal Usage
Anise is an aromatic stimulant, carminative, expectorant, stomachic, and galactogenic. It is one of the best herbal remedies for relieving gas in the digestive system. Used in laxative formulas, anise helps prevent cramping in the bowels. A strong tea will break up bronchial mucus and stimulate milk flow.
The oil of star anise Illicium verum is chemically almost identical to that of anise. They are used interchangeably in the distilling, confectionary and perfumery industries.
The seeds contain one to four percent by weight volatile oil. The oil contains 75 to 90 percent trans-anethole, estragole, beta-caryophyllene, and anise ketone. Anethole is the main substance responsible for anise's so-called licorice flavor.
General Herb Information
Of the 140 species in the genus Pimpinella, only anise, Pimpinella anisam, is familiar to gardeners. Anise, native to the Mediterranean from Greece to Egypt, has sporadically escaped cultivation in North America.
It's an erect, though sometimes sprawling, annual which grows to twenty inches in height. The leaves are long-stemmed, rounded or three-lobed, and coarsely toothed at the base of the plant. As the plant matures, the leaves become more finely divided, producing feathery wisps toward the flower head. Delicate yellowish-white flowers are borne on large umbels. The greenish-grayfruits (generally called seeds) are pear-shaped and about one-eighth of an inch long with ten prominent ribs and short hairs. Each fruit contains about thirty vittae (tubes containing essential oil).
Propagation is by seed. Because anise does not transplant well, it should be sown directly in the garden. Seed should be planted in the early spring as anise takes 130 to 140 days to mature. It needs a temperature of 70°F to germinate. Use fresh seed as its viability deteriorates rapidly after two years. Sow to a depth of one-fourth to one-half inch. Three-inch seedlings should be thinned to six-inch spacings. They will germinate better if sown with coriander. Seedlings develop slowly and must be kept free of weeds.
One ounce of seed should sow a row 150 feet long; five pounds will plant an acre with rows every three feet.
Anise is the most persnickety of all herbs. It likes perfect weather - relatively uniform rainfall and temperatures during the growing season. Long wet or dry spells will not help this fastidious plant. Anise wilts under excessive heat and therefore is difficult to grow in the South. A light, well-drained, moderately rich sandy loam is preferable. A beneficial fine-textured moisture-retentive soil can easily be created in a raised bed. Soil pH should be around 6.0 to 7.5. Anise needs full sun. An acre grown under good conditions may produce 400 to 600 pounds of seed.
The ripening fruits should be carefully monitored as some seeds on the same umbel ripen quicker than others. As soon as the tip of the fruits turn gray, harvest. If left to the weather, seeds may turn an undesirable black color.
Anise's culinary potential far exceeds its traditional use in breads, cookies, cakes, candies, and liqueurs. Try a half-teaspoon to one teaspoon in four quarts of potato or lentil soups. Crush one-half teaspoon of seed with a mortar and pestle and add to salads. Use your imagination!
Aniseed is used to warm the abdomen, prevent and expel gas, aid digestion, and relieve belching, nausea and abdominal pains. A good tea for gas, indigestion, bloating and nausea is that made from combining a pinch each of powders of aniseed, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon and an even smaller pinch of black pepper, and then steeping the combination in boiled hot water or scalded raw milk. A cup can be taken after meals or throughout the winter to promote digestion and counteract coldness. Aniseed is commonly used as a flavoring agent and substituted for licorice.
Commonly prescribed for gas, nausea, abdominal pains, coughs and colds, aniseed exhibits actions that are stimulant, carminative, antispasmodic, expectorant, emmenagogue, and diaphoretic. The biochemical makeup of the herb includes volatile oil, coumarins, lipids, fatty acids, sterols, proteins and carbohydrates. The bodily systems that are affected by its use include the stomach, lungs, liver, and kidneys.
The recommended single oral dose for use in treating cough and upper respiratory infection is 0.1 grams, roughly the amount contained in four drops of the oil, three times a day. The average daily dose is 3 grams of drug or 0.3 grams of oil.
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Directions
Take 1 capsule, 3 times daily, with meals.
Additional Information
The TerraVita Premium Collection uses only the finest, purest and most potent plant extracts from around the world.
The TerraVita Premium Collection is hallmarked by the highest possible standards of purity, potency, stability and freshness. Our highest possible standards are certified by independent laboratories and backed by our personal guarantee.
The TerraVita Premium Collection is packed in child-proof, tamper-proof pharmaceutical-grade recyclable containers.
ZooScape is proud to be the exclusive distributor of TerraVita teas, herbs and supplements in the United States, Canada and around the world. Please direct all wholesale and bulk inquiries to Simona Heather at 905-494-1785.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Products are intended to support general well being and are not intended to treat, diagnose, mitigate, prevent, or cure any condition or disease. If conditions persist, please seek advice from your medical doctor. The essence of the current American rule on Traditional Uses is, as stated by FTC, "Claims based on historical or traditional use should be substantiated by confirming scientific evidence, or should be presented in such a way that consumers understand that the sole basis for the claim is a history of use of the product for a particular purpose."
