Illicium floridanum

Illicium floridanum, the Florida anise, is a lush evergreen shrub of the southern woods, prized for glossy, dark green leaves that release a clean anise or licorice scent when crushed. In mid-spring the plant hangs itself with curious flowers, two inches across and shaped like deep maroon starfish, their many narrow petals radiating from the center. Dense, shade-loving, and richly aromatic in leaf, Florida anise brings a bold, tropical-looking evergreen presence to a shady garden.

The flowers hold a curious secret of their own. Where the crushed leaves smell sweetly of anise, the blooms carry an odd, fishy odor that draws the flies and beetles that pollinate them, which has earned the plant the affectionate nickname stinkbush. A more important caution belongs on the label as well: despite the name and the anise-scented foliage, Florida anise is not the source of the star anise used in cooking, that is a different species, and every part of this plant is toxic and should never be eaten.

In the wild, Florida anise grows in the rich, moist, shaded ravines and stream banks of the Gulf coastal plain, from the Florida panhandle across to Louisiana, an understory shrub of cool, damp, low places. That heritage tells the gardener exactly what the plant wants: shade, rich acid soil, and steady moisture, the opposite of a hot, dry border. Deer, put off by the aromatic, toxic foliage, leave the plant alone.

Give Illicium floridanum part to full shade in moist, rich, acid soil, and use the shrub as a bold evergreen for a woodland garden, a shady border, a screen in the shade, or a damp low spot where little else will thrive. The dense foliage screens and softens, the maroon flowers intrigue, and the crushed leaves scent the hand of anyone who brushes past. For a native, deer-proof, aromatic evergreen for shade, Florida anise is a Southern classic.