Star anise (Bunga Lawang) Cure for H1N1

This article is about an anise‐like spice. For the evergreen shrub called "star anise" in the Eastern United States, see Illicium floridanum.

Star anise.

Scientific classification Binomial name
Kingdom: Plantae Illicium verum
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Austrobaileyales
Family: Illiciaceae
Genus: Illicium
Species: I. verum

Star anise fruits (Illicium verum)

Star anise, star aniseed, badiane or Chinese star anise, (Chinese: , pinyin: bājiǎo, lit. "eighthorn";
Malayalam: ) is a spice that closely resembles anise in flavor, obtained from
the star‐shaped pericarp of Illicium verum, a small native evergreen tree of southwest China.
The star shaped fruits are harvested just before ripening. It is widely used in Chinese cuisine, in
Indian cuisine where it is a major component of garam masala, and in Malay–Indonesian
cuisine. It is widely grown for commercial use in China, India, and most other countries in Asia.
Star anise is an ingredient of the traditional five‐spice powder of Chinese cooking. It is also a
major ingredient in the making of phở, a Vietnamese noodle soup. It is used as a spice in
preparation of Biryani in Andhra Pradesh, a state of southern India. In Marathi, it is called
BarDan () which literally means "spice with twelve() seeds ()".

Usages

Culinary uses
Star anise contains anethole, the same ingredient which gives the unrelated anise its flavor.
Recently, star anise has come into use in the West as a less expensive substitute for anise in
baking as well as in liquor production, most distinctively in the production of the liquor
Galliano. It is also used in the production of Sambuca, pastis, and many types of absinthe.

Medicinal uses
Star anise has been used in a tea as a remedy for rheumatism, and the seeds are sometimes
chewed after meals to aid digestion. As a warm and moving herb, Ba Jiao is used to assist in
relieving cold‐stagnation in the middle jiao, according to TCM.

Shikimic acid, a primary feedstock used to create the anti‐flu drug Tamiflu, is produced
by most autotrophic organisms, but star anise is the industrial source. In 2005, there
was a temporary shortage of star anise due to its use in making Tamiflu. Late in that
year, a way was found of making shikimic acid artificially. Roche now derives some of
the raw material it needs from fermenting E. coli bacteria. The 2009 swine flu (H1N1)
outbreak led to another series of shortages as stocks of Tamiflu were built up around
the world, sending prices soaring.

Star anise is grown in four provinces in China and harvested between March and May. Its also
found in the south of New South Wales. The shikimic acid is extracted from the seeds in a tenstage
manufacturing process which takes a year. Reports say 90% of the harvest is already used
by the Swiss pharmaceutical manufacturer Roche in making Tamiflu, but other reports say
there is an abundance of the spice in the main regions ‐ Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi and
Yunnan.

Japanese star anise (Illicium anisatum), a similar tree, is not edible because it is highly toxic
(due to containing sikimitoxin); instead, it has been burned as incense in Japan. Cases of illness,
including "serious neurological effects, such as seizures", reported after using star anise tea
may be a result of using this species. Japanese star anise contains anisatin, which causes severe
inflammation of the kidneys, urinary tract and digestive organs.

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