Vitex, Chastetree

Vitex negundo

Verbenaceae (Verbena Family)

▲▼ mature plants showing serrated leaflet margins

▲▼ flowers

 Location near campus:  at west end of Master Gardener Demonstration Garden in Nathanael Greene Park at the Botancial Center.

Vitex negundo: Vitex, Chaste-tree

·         leaves deciduous, opposite, palmately compound with serrate-margined leaflets; leaflets are 2-4" long and 1/4 as wide; gray-green in color, glabrous above, slightly pubescent underneath

·         stems are slender, gray-green to gray-brown, angled with large, angled pith; more herbaceous-appearing stem growth than similar  Vitex agnus-castus

·         flowers are lilac-purple in terminal panicles in late summer on current season’s growth            

·         grows 15-25' tall and 2/3 as wide in southern areas as a small tree; more of a shrub in north and may die back to ground in cold winters

·         prefers full sun, moist, well-drained soil

·         fast growth rate

·         relatives of this plant produce chemicals that repel insects and act as insect growth regulators