Description
Illicium floridanum, commonly called purple anise, is an upright, rounded, aromatic, evergreen shrub. It is native to wet soils in low hammocks, wooded ravines, marshy areas and stream peripheries from northern Florida and Georgia along the coastal plain to Louisiana. Smooth, glossy, elliptic, dark olive-green leaves (to 6″ long) emit an anise-like aroma when crushed. Nodding, dark red flowers (to 2″ diameter), each with 20-30 strap-shaped petals, bloom in spring. (Courtesy of Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder)
