It can also help asthma, bronchitis, and insomnia. Folklore says that if you place anis in your pillow it will ward off bad dreams. Anis has long been used for relieving colic in children. Anis is helpful in removing excess mucus in the alimentary canal. Also believed effective as an intestinal purifier.
Anise enjoys considerable reputation as a medicine in coughs and pectoral affections.
In hard dry coughs where expectoration is difficult, it is of much value. Oil of Anise, distilled in Europe from the fruits of Pimpinella anisum, Anise, and in China from the fruits of Illicium anisatum, Star Anise, a small tree indigenous to China, is colorless, or a very pale yellow. The oils obtained from these two fruits are identical in composition, and nearly the same in most of their characters. The volatile oil in Aniseed provides the basis for its internal use to ease griping, intestinal colic and flatulence. It also has a marked expectorant and anti-spasmodic action and may be used in bronchitis, in tracheitis where there is persistent irritable coughing, and in whooping cough.