Illicium parviflorum 'Florida Sunshine'

Illicium parviflorum, the Ocala or small anise, is a rare Florida endemic, an aromatic evergreen of the star-anise family, Schisandraceae, tougher and more sun-tolerant than its showier cousin the Florida anise. 'Florida Sunshine' is the selection that made the species famous: a form whose foliage glows chartreuse-gold through spring and summer, holding the anise scent of the genus in leaves that light up a shaded corner.

The real show comes with the cold. As the weather cools in fall the gold brightens to a near-screaming yellow, then softens toward parchment by midwinter, and at the same time the upper stems flush a brilliant red that plays against the pale leaves. Few evergreens do anything so dramatic in January. The winter foliage will scorch in strong sun, so light or part shade keeps the color clean, a stunning beacon in the cold-season garden.

'Florida Sunshine' was selected and introduced by Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery, grown from three golden seedlings of the wild species that Avent brought back from a 2000 visit to the Florida plantsman Charles Webb. After several years of evaluation one plant was chosen and named, and the selection has become one of the most popular gold-leaved shrubs in Southern gardens. As with the other ornamental anises, the aromatic foliage is toxic if eaten and unrelated to culinary star anise.

Use 'Florida Sunshine' as a living light source in shade: at the back of a woodland border, against dark evergreens, beside a path, or massed to lead the eye through a shady garden. The gold reads from across the yard, and the red winter stems reward a close look. Give light to part shade and moist, well-drained soil, and pair with ferns, hostas, dark-leaved hollies, and hellebores that set off the glowing foliage. Deer leave the aromatic leaves alone.