Codimensions of star-algebras and low exponential growth

In this paper we prove that if A is any algebra with involution * satisfying a non-trivial polynomial identity, then its sequence of *-codimensions is eventually non-decreasing. Furthermore, by making use of the *-exponent we reconstruct the only two *-algebras, up to T*-equivalence, generating varieties of almost polynomial growth. As a third result we characterize the varieties of algebras with involution whose exponential growth is bounded by 2.