Illicium floridanum var. album

Illicium floridanum var. album is the uncommon white-flowered form of the Florida anise, all the beauty and aromatic foliage of the species, with starry spring flowers of clean white in place of the usual deep maroon. Against the glossy, dark green, anise-scented leaves, the pale, many-petaled stars seem to float, lighting up a shady corner where the darker form would simply recede. A choice and seldom-seen selection, the white Florida anise is a connoisseur's evergreen for shade.

As with all the Florida anises, there are two scents to know. The leaves, crushed, smell cleanly of anise or licorice, while the flowers carry a faint fishy odor that lures the flies and beetles that pollinate them. And the same caution applies: for all the anise in the foliage, this is not the star anise of the spice rack, which comes from a different species, and every part of this plant is toxic and must never be eaten.

Like the maroon form, the white Florida anise belongs to the moist, shaded woods of the Gulf coastal plain, and asks for the same in the garden: part to full shade, rich acid soil, and steady moisture, well away from hot, dry exposure. Aromatic and toxic, the foliage is reliably passed over by deer. Evergreen and dense, the plant holds a full, glossy canopy the year round and slowly builds into a rounded, well-clothed shrub.

Set Illicium floridanum var. album where the pale flowers can brighten the shade, in a woodland garden, a shady border, or a screen beneath taller trees, in moist, rich, acid soil. The white blooms and light-catching foliage lift dim spaces the darker anises cannot, and the aromatic leaves reward a passing hand. For a rare, deer-proof, white-flowered evergreen for shade, few plants are as quietly distinctive.