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Illicium anisatum

Flowering Plants

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Illicium anisatum, known as Japanese star anise, aniseed tree or sacred anise tree, and called shikimi in Japanese, is an evergreen shrub or small tree closely related to Chinese star anise. It is highly toxic and its fruit is not edible, but its dried and powdered leaves are burned as incense in Japan. Its branches and evergreen leaves are considered sacred by Japanese Buddhists, valued partly because insects avoid them and because they stay fresh after being cut.

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