The Star Anise, a rare herb grown in China used to flavour duck dishes and treat infants for colic, on sale together with other spices at a market in Nanning, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region yesterday. The herb is at the centre of a worldwide search for a cure for avian flu. It contains a vital function as the source of shikimic acid from which the drug Tamiflu is made, the only defence the world currently has against the threatened flu pandemic.Inset: A Thai boy feeds pigeons that have flocked together at a park in Bangkok yesterday. Thailand suffered its latest bird flu death this month.[AFP]