Anise
an umbelliferous plant, the pimpinella anisum. It is cultivated in southern Europe and in Germany for the sake of the seeds, which are exported. They are aromatic and carminative. Oil of anise is a solution of anise camphor. The camphor is obtained pure ANJOU from alcohol by pressure and crystallization. In pharmacy it is used as a stimulant, aromatic, and carminative. ANJOU (än-zhö'), an ancient province of France, now forming the department of Maine-et-Loire, re, and parts of the departments of Indre-et-Loire, Mayenne, and Sarthe; area, about 3,000 square miles. In 1060 the province passed into the hands of the house of Gatinais, of which sprang Count Godfrey V., who, in 1127, married Matilda, daughter of Henry I. of England, and so became the ancestor of the Plantagenet kings. Anjou remained in the possession of the English kings up to 1204, when John lost it to the French King, Philip Augustus. In 1226 Louis VIII. bestowed the province on his brother Charles; but in 1328 it was reunited to the French crown. John I. raised it to the rank of a ducal peerage, and gave it to his son Louis. Henceforth it remained separate from the French crown till 1480, when it fell to Louis XI. The last Duke of Anjou was the grandson of Louis XIV., Philip V. of Spain.