Illicium mexicanum x floridanum album 'Woodland Ruby'

The anise trees, genus Illicium, are aromatic broadleaf evergreens of the star-anise family, Schisandraceae, prized as some of the finest flowering shrubs for shade. 'Woodland Ruby' is a Woodlanders introduction and one of the showiest of the group, a hybrid between the Mexican anise, Illicium mexicanum, and a white-flowered form of the native Florida anise, Illicium floridanum. The cross carries ruby-pink, star-shaped flowers larger than those of either parent, dangling from long slender stalks over glossy, aromatic evergreen leaves.

The great virtue of 'Woodland Ruby' is bloom. Where most anise trees flower in a single spring flush, this hybrid opens ruby-pink stars over an extended season, spring into fall, and carries them on four-inch pedicels that let the flowers hang free and show. The mexicanum parent lends both the long bloom and a greater tolerance of sun, so 'Woodland Ruby' takes more light than the shade-bound Florida anise as long as the roots stay moist. As with all ornamental anises, the aromatic foliage is toxic if eaten and unrelated to culinary star anise, and deer accordingly leave the plant alone.

The hybrid was raised and introduced by Woodlanders, a cross that has become one of the nursery's best-known contributions to Southern shade gardening. Combining the long bloom and sun tolerance of the Mexican species with the hardiness and grace of the native, 'Woodland Ruby' offers a longer, richer flowering season than either parent alone.

Use 'Woodland Ruby' as a flowering evergreen for part to full shade, or for filtered sun where the soil can be kept moist, as a specimen, a shade border anchor, or an informal screen. The long season of ruby stars brings color to shaded ground for months, and the glossy foliage holds structure year-round. Ferns, hostas, hydrangeas, camellias, and other shade companions set the plant off; keep the soil moist and fertile, and mulch to hold it.