Anise is cultivated chiefly for its fruits, called aniseed, the flavor of which resembles licorice. Aniseed is widely used to flavor pastries; it is the characteristic ingredient of the popular German bread called Anisbrod.

In the Mediterranean region and in Asia, aniseed is commonly used in meat and vegetable dishes.

It makes a soothing herbal tea and has been used medicinally from prehistoric times. The essential oil content is about 2.5 percent, and its principal component is anethole. As Grieve puts it, Anise Seed tea is 'Carminative and pectoral. Anise enjoys considerable reputation as a medicine in coughs and pectoral affections. In hard, dry coughs where expectoration is difficult, it is of much value.'

The essential oil is used to flavor absinthe, anisette, ouzo, raki and pernod liqueurs.

The 1997 Commission E on Phytotherapy and Herbal Substances of the German Federal Institute for Drugs recommends Anise for 'Internal: Dyspeptic complaints. Internal and external use: Catarrhs of the respiratory tract.'

'Side Effects: Occasional allergic reactions of skin, respiratory tract, and gastrointestinal tract.'

'Dosage: Internal: Average daily dosage: 3 g of drug; Essential oil 0.3 g; equivalent preparations. External: Preparations containing 5 - 10 percent essential oil. Mode of Administration: Comminuted drug for infusions and other galenical preparations for internal use or for inhalation. Note: The purpose of an external application of an anise preparation is the inhalation of essential oil. Actions: Expectorant; Mildly antispasmodic; Antibacterial.'

Grieve's cllassic 'A Modern Herbal': 'Anise fruit yields on distillation from 2.5 to 3.5 per cent. of a fragrant, syrupy, volatile oil, of which anethol, present to about 90 per cent., is the principal aromatic constituent. It has a strong Anise odour and separates in the form of shining white crystalline scales on cooling the oil. Other constituents of the fruit are a fixed oil, choline, sugar and mucilage.'

'Oil of Anise, distilled in Europe from the fruits of Pimpinella anisum, Anise, and in China from the fruits of Illicium anisatum, Star Anise, a small tree indigenous to China, is colourless, or very pale yellow, with taste and odour like the fruit.'

'The oils obtainable from these two fruits are identical in composition, and nearly the same in most of their characters, but that from Star Anise fruit congeals at a lower temperature. The powdered drug from Star Anise is administered in India as a substitute for the official fruit, and the oil is employed for its aromatic, carminative and stimulant properties. The bulk of the oil in commerce is obtained from the Star Anise fruit in China. The fruits are also often imported into France and the oil extracted there. Chinese Anise oil is harsh in taste.'

'Medicinal Action and Uses: Carminative and pectoral. Anise enjoys considerable reputation as a medicine in coughs and pectoral affections. In hard, dry coughs where expectoration is difficult, it is of much value. It is greatly used in the form of lozenges and the seeds have also been used for smoking, to promote expectoration.'

'The volatile oil, mixed with spirits of wine forms the liqueur Anisette, which has a beneficial action on the bronchial tubes, and for bronchitis and spasmodic asthma, Anisette, if administered in hot water, is an immediate palliative.'

'For infantile catarrh, Aniseed tea is very helpful. It is made by pouring half a pint of boiling water on 2 teaspoonsful of bruised seed. This, sweetened, is given cold in doses of 1 to 3 teaspoonsful frequently.'

'The stimulant and carminative properties of Anise make it useful in flatulency and colic. It is used as an ingredient of cathartic and aperient pills, to relieve flatulence and diminish the griping of purgative medicines, and may be given with perfect safety in convulsions.'

'For colic, the dose is 10 to 30 grains of bruised or powdered seeds infused in distilled water, taken in wineglassful doses, or 4 to 20 drops of the essential oil on sugar. For the restlessness of languid digestion, a dose of essence of aniseed in hot water at bedtime is much commended.'

'In the Paregoric Elixir (Compound Tincture of Camphor), prescribed as a sedative cordial by doctors, oil of Anise is also included - 30 drops in a pint of the tincture.'

'Anise oil is a good antiseptic and is used, mixed with oil of Peppermint or Gaultheria (Wintergreen) to flavour aromatic liquid dentrifrices.'

'Oil of Anise is used also against insects especially when mixed with oil of Sassafras and Carbolic oil.'

King's 1898 Dispensatory: 'A stimulant and carminative; used in cases of flatulency, flatulent colic of infants, and to remove nausea. Sometimes added to other medicines to improve their flavor, correct griping and other disagreeable effects.'

'The dose of aniseed, crushed or powdered, is from 20 to 40 grains. Infusion (ij or iij to aqua Oss.), for infants, in doses of a teaspoonful.'

Eclectic Materia Medica, 1922 (Felter): 'Anise is an agreeable stimulating carminative employed principally for the relief of nausea, flatulency, and the flatulent colic of infants. Anise imparts its odor to the milk of nursing mothers.'

'It is an ingredient of Paregoric (Camphorated Tincture of Opium), and is largely used to impart to or correct flavor in medicinal preparations, especially cough mixtures. For infants the infusion is the best preparation and it should not be sweetened. The spirit (½ to 1 fluidrachm) given in hot water is more agreeable and effective for older children and adults. The oil (1 to 5 drops) on sugar may be used by the latter, if desired.'