Star Anise
Illicium verum
Licorice-sweet and dark. The Chinese five-spice star that smells like winter.
Scent profile
Licorice-sweet, dark, slightly spicy. Moderate. Distinctive without being loud.
When people light it
Winter reading nights. Late dinners. Conversations after the dishes are done.
The long view
Star anise is the star-shaped seed pod of a small tree native to southern China and northern Vietnam. Used in Chinese traditional medicine for over a thousand years, and one of the five spices in Chinese five-spice. Its active compound shikimic acid is the precursor used in the synthesis of the antiviral drug Tamiflu — trivia that tells you how well-studied this plant is.
Organic star anise infused into pure beeswax at its calibrated temperature, then strained. Hemp wick.
Two ways of holding it
Through research and documented use
Star anise (Illicium verum) is the seed pod of a small tree native to southern China and northern Vietnam. Used in Chinese traditional medicine for over a thousand years, and one of the five spices in Chinese five-spice. Its active compound shikimic acid is the precursor used in the synthesis of the antiviral drug Tamiflu.
For the moment of lighting: Winter-dark and licorice-sweet. Light it on cold-season evenings, reading nights, quiet questions.
Through contemplative tradition
Tended in the medicinal gardens of China and Vietnam for more than a thousand years, carried west along the same trade routes that brought cinnamon and cloves. Its eight-pointed shape echoes a symbol that has carried meaning across many traditions — the eight-pointed star of Ishtar in ancient Mesopotamia, the eight petals of Lakshmi in Hindu iconography, the octagrams on European Christian reliquaries. A plant that arrived from half a world away in the shape of a prayer someone in the next village would have recognized.
A reading for the moment of lighting: For the dark half of the year. For the eight points of a star that looks like something someone prayed to. For the plant that crossed a continent to get to this flame. Bless the long quiet of this evening, and let the questions I'm holding be held kindly by whatever listens.
What modern researchers have found
Industrial pharmaceutical use — shikimic acid and Tamiflu synthesis The most significant modern scientific finding about star anise is not medicinal but industrial. Shikimic acid, extracted from the seed pods of Illicium verum, was the primary industrial raw material used by Roche to synthesize oseltamivir (Tamiflu) — the leading antiviral drug for influenza treatment and prevention. Krämer et al. (2006, Synlett 2006(23):3882–3894, DOI: 10.1055/s-2006-958752) documented the synthetic chemistry. During the 2005–2009 H5N1 and H1N1 pandemic scares, global star anise supply came under intense pressure as nations stockpiled Tamiflu. Chinese star anise provides roughly 90% of the world's shikimic acid. This is a real, directly evidenced, high-value use — but it is a pharmaceutical precursor, not a direct therapeutic claim about consuming star anise.
In-vitro antimicrobial and antifungal studies Trans-anethole (80–90% of star anise essential oil) and other components have shown antimicrobial activity against bacteria and fungi in laboratory assays. These are petri-dish findings with no confirmed clinical translation.
Estrogenic activity — animal and in-vitro studies Trans-anethole has shown estrogenic activity in rodent uterotrophic assays, which is the mechanistic basis for star anise's traditional use as a galactagogue (milk production stimulant) and for digestive smooth muscle relaxation. These effects have not been confirmed in human clinical trials specifically for I. verum.
Anxiolytic terpenoids review — Agatonovic-Kustrin (2020) Agatonovic-Kustrin et al. (2020, Molecules 25(24):5956, DOI: 10.3390/molecules25245956) reviewed anxiolytic terpenoids including anethole derivatives. Star anise compounds are mentioned peripherally in the context of the broader terpenoid anxiolytic literature. This is a review-level citation and does not establish clinical efficacy for star anise specifically.
Clinical trials — none for direct therapeutic use No randomized controlled human trials have tested star anise as a medicinal herb for any indication. The shikimic acid / Tamiflu connection is real but entirely industrial.
Modern verdict in one sentence: Star anise's most scientifically significant modern role is as an industrial pharmaceutical precursor, not as a direct medicine; traditional digestive use has a plausible mechanistic basis but lacks human trial evidence.
What ancient and historical cultures concluded
Ancient Chinese materia medica (~2nd century BCE onward — Shennong tradition and Li Shizhen) The Shennong Bencao Jing (Divine Farmer's Classic of Materia Medica, compiled c. 200 BCE–200 CE) established the foundational TCM pharmacopoeia, and warming digestive spices occupied a central role. Li Shizhen's Bencao Gangmu (Compendium of Materia Medica, 1596 CE, Vol. 32) specifically catalogued ba jiao hui xiang (八角茴香 — eight-horned fennel fragrance) as a warming spice that enters the Liver, Kidney, Spleen, and Stomach meridians. Li Shizhen's conclusion was TCM-pharmacological: star anise disperses cold, relieves stagnation, and warms the middle jiao (digestive center). This framing was carried forward into the modern Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China (2020 edition), giving star anise continuous documented medical use from the Han dynasty to the present.
Vietnamese and Southeast Asian culinary-medicinal tradition Star anise is a foundational ingredient in Vietnamese pho broth and is indigenous to Guangxi province and northern Vietnam. The herb's culinary and medicinal use in Vietnamese tradition is inseparable: the spice that makes broth warming and aromatic is the same spice used to settle the stomach and warm cold-type conditions. Phan Ke Long et al. (2020, Vietnam Journal of Forest Science) document the aromatic plant traditions of northern Vietnam including I. verum. This is a tradition where the culinary IS the medicinal.
European spice trade (16th century — introduction by Thomas Cavendish) Davidson (2014, Oxford Companion to Food, 3rd ed., Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-967733-7, p. 759) records that star anise was introduced to Europe circa 1588 by the English navigator Thomas Cavendish. Within decades it became a key ingredient in French liqueur production (notably anise-flavored spirits) and in European pastry and confectionery. European culture's engagement with star anise was primarily culinary and hedonic — its warm, sweet-spicy character was adopted for taste, not as medicine.
Modern Western magical tradition (1985 — Scott Cunningham) In Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs (Llewellyn, 1985, ISBN 978-0-87542-122-3, p. 205), Cunningham attributed to star anise: luck, psychic power, and purification. He noted that star anise seeds are carried for luck or burned as incense before psychic work. This magical attribution is thin on pre-modern precedent — Cunningham appears to be drawing on the spice's exotic reputation and angular star-shaped form as visual metaphors for cosmic power, rather than on a documented pre-existing ceremonial tradition.
Primary citations
- Krämer K, Pfrengle W, de Meijere A (2006). Synthesis of oseltamivir from shikimic acid. Synlett 2006(23):3882–3894. DOI: 10.1055/s-2006-958752.
- Agatonovic-Kustrin S, Kustrin E, Gegechkori V, Morton DW (2020). Anxiolytic Terpenoids and Aromatherapy for Anxiety and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Molecules 25(24):5956. DOI: 10.3390/molecules25245956. PMID: 33348753.
- Li Shizhen. Bencao Gangmu (Compendium of Materia Medica). 1596 CE. Vol. 32.
- Davidson A (2014). The Oxford Companion to Food, 3rd ed. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-967733-7. p. 759.
- Cunningham S (1985). Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs. Llewellyn. ISBN 978-0-87542-122-3. p. 205.
