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Vitex negundo L.

Synonym                    : Vitex trifolia Graham

Family                        : Verbenaceae

Local Names              : Karinochi, Nochi, Chaste tree, Five leaved chaste tree

Flowering and fruiting period: February – July

Distribution: Indo-Malaysia and China, cultivated throughout the tropics

Habitat: Grown as hedge plant, also growing wild

IUCN status: Data Deficient

Endemic: No

Uses: Seed - occasionally used as a condiment, it is a pepper substitute. The aromatic leaves are astringent, febrifuge, sedative, tonic and vermifuge. They are useful in dispersing swellings of the joints from acute rheumatism, and of the testes from suppressed gonorrhoea. A decoction of the stems is used in the treatment of burns and scalds. The fruit is also used in the treatment of angina, colds, coughs, rheumatic difficulties etc. The plant is said to be a malarial preventative and is also used in the treatment of bacterial dysentery - extracts of the leaves have shown bactericidal and antitumor activity. The young stems are used in basket making and for making wattles,  as firewood etc.

Key Characters: Shrubs or small trees; purple pubescent all over, aromatic.  Leaves 3-5-foliolate; leaflets narrowly oblong or elliptic.  Panicles terminal.  Calyx 5.  Corolla deep purple to violet, upper lipd 2-lobed, lower 3-lobed with the middle lobe larger, obovate, undulate-margined, other lobes shorter, subequal, obtuse.  Stamens 4, filaments purple.  Drupe globose, purple or black.