Florida Sunshine Anise
Illicium parviflorum 'Florida Sunshine'
Height: 6 feet
Spread: 4 feet
Sunlight:
Hardiness Zone: 6a
Other Names: Star Anise, Yellow Anise
Description:
Glossy evergreen foliage smells like licorice when crushed; makes a fine hedge or can be limbed up as a small accent tree; great for foundations, mixed borders, and containers; prefers partial shade with adequate moisture
Ornamental Features
Florida Sunshine Anise is primarily valued in the landscape or garden for its ornamental upright and spreading habit of growth. It has attractive light green evergreen foliage which emerges chartreuse in spring. The fragrant narrow leaves are highly ornamental and turn yellow in the fall, which persists throughout the winter. The dark red branches are extremely showy and add significant winter interest.
Landscape Attributes
Florida Sunshine Anise is a dense multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its average texture blends into the landscape, but can be balanced by one or two finer or coarser trees or shrubs for an effective composition.
This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and is best pruned in late winter once the threat of extreme cold has passed. It is a good choice for attracting birds to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.
Florida Sunshine Anise is recommended for the following landscape applications;
- Mass Planting
- Hedges/Screening
- General Garden Use
- Naturalizing And Woodland Gardens
Planting & Growing
Florida Sunshine Anise will grow to be about 6 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 4 feet. It tends to be a little leggy, with a typical clearance of 1 foot from the ground, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 50 years or more.
This shrub does best in partial shade to shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. It is particular about its soil conditions, with a strong preference for sandy, acidic soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone over the growing season to conserve soil moisture. This is a selection of a native North American species, and parts of it are known to be toxic to humans and animals, so care should be exercised in planting it around children and pets.
