Vitex negundo

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