This is an interesting plant. Its major component is elemicin, A very useful chemical. It also lives in places that most useful plants do not.

It also contains methyleugenol, which isn't as useful.

Technical Abstract: Isolation and characterization leaf volatiles in Anemopsis californica (Nutt.) Hook. and Arn. (A. californica) was performed using steam distillation, solid-phase microextraction, and supercritical fluid extraction. Thirty-eight compounds were detected and identified by gas chromatography; elemicin was the major component of the leaf volatiles. While the composition of the leaf volatiles varied with method of extraction, sabinene, 1,8-cineole, piperitone, methyl eugenol, and elemicin were usually present in readily detectable amounts. Greenhouse-reared clones of a wild population of A californica had an identical leaf volatile composition with the parent plants. Steam-distilled oil had antimicrobial properties against 3 (Straphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Geotrichim candidum) of 11 microbial species tested. Some of this bioactivity could be accounted by the oil.

---http://afrsweb.usda.gov/research/publications/publications.htm?seq_no_115=144657

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ANCA10

http://medplant.nmsu.edu/yerba.html

The only problem is that it is an edangered species, which makes me think that it will be hard to locate -- however, if it has any good concentrations of elemicin, it should be worth it. Does anyone know the concentrations of elemicin it has in it? If not, perhaps the ref I just posted will say?

why thankyou vesp I have been looking for a good source of elemicin.

I was thinking of synthing it from clove.

there are two ways I can think of of the top of my head.

one to isomerise then cleave to aldehyde this is what I would choose as it gives the benzaldehyde which will undergo henry condensation with nitromethane.

two to cleave to the ethyl aldehyde then reductivly aminate. I belive there might be polymerisation problems with some phenethyl aldehydes.

It's endangered, your forests are full of Asarum and Hexastylis, go for those instead!

ETA: The roots of the extremely common Asarum canadense contain ~2% essential oil, which in turn contain 20% isoelemicin.

Grow it? Yes.
Wildcraft it? Definitely not!

It's still not much of a source compared to Asarum canadense, which is very common and can be dug up in huge quantities. It also contains more oil (2% when fresh), and it contains the right isomer saving you a step in the synthesis.