''Vitex'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s in the sage

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Lamiaceae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family (biology), family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle, or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil (herb), ba ...

. It has about 250

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

.Raymond M. Harley, Sandy Atkins, Andrey L. Budantsev, Philip D. Cantino, Barry J. Conn, Renée J. Grayer, Madeline M. Harley, Rogier P.J. de Kok, Tatyana V. Krestovskaja, Ramón Morales, Alan J. Paton, and P. Olof Ryding. 2004. "Labiatae" pages 167-275. In: Klaus Kubitzki (editor) and Joachim W. Kadereit (volume editor). ''The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants'' volume VII. Springer-Verlag: Berlin; Heidelberg, Germany. ''Vitex'' In: Index Nominum Genericorum. In:

Regnum Vegetabile The International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT) is an organization established to promote an understanding of plant biodiversity, facilitate international communication of research between botanists, and oversee matters of uniformity and ...

(see ''External links'' below). Common names include chaste tree or chastetree, traditionally referring to '' V. agnus-castus'', but often applied to other species, as well. Species of ''Vitex'' are

native Native may refer to: People * '' Jus sanguinis'', nationality by blood * '' Jus soli'', nationality by location of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Nat ...

throughout the

tropics The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

and

subtropics The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones immediately to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately ...

, with a few species in

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

and one in New Zealand.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref>David J. Mabberley. 2008. ''Mabberley's Plant-Book'' third edition (2008). Cambridge University Press: UK. About 18 species are known in cultivation. ''V. agnus-castus'' and '' Vitex negundo'' are often grown in temperate climates.Anthony J. Huxley, Mark Griffiths, and Margot Levy (editors). 1992. ''The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening.'' The Macmillan Press Limited, London; The Stockton Press, New York. About six others are frequently grown in the tropics.George W. Staples and Derral R. Herbst "A Tropical Garden Flora" Bishop Museum Press: Honolulu (2005) Most of the cultivated species serve as ornamentals. Some provide valuable

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

. The flexible limbs of some species are used in

basket weaving Basket weaving (also basketry or basket making) is the process of weaving or sewing pliable materials into three-dimensional artifacts, such as baskets, mats, mesh bags or even furniture. Craftspeople and artists specialized in making baskets ...

. Some of the

aromatic In organic chemistry, aromaticity is a chemical property describing the way in which a conjugated system, conjugated ring of unsaturated bonds, lone pairs, or empty orbitals exhibits a stabilization stronger than would be expected from conjugati ...

species are used medicinally or to repel

mosquitos Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a family of small flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word ''mosquito'' (formed by '' mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish and Portuguese for ''little fly''. Mosquitoes have a slender segmented body, ...

. The genus ''Vitex'' was named by

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

in ''

Species Plantarum ' (Latin for "The Species of Plants") is a book by Carl Linnaeus, originally published in 1753, which lists every species of plant known at the time, classified into genus, genera. It is the first work to consistently apply binomial nomenclature ...

'' in 1753.Carolus Linnaeus. 1753. ''Species Plantarum'' 2:706. Laurentii Salvii. (see ''External Links'' below). ''Vitex'' was the name used by

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

for ''V. agnus-castus''. It is derived from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''vieo'', meaning to weave or to tie up, a reference to the use of ''V. agnus-castus'' in basketry.Umberto Quattrocchi. 2000. ''CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names'' volume I, page 91. CRC Press: Boca Raton; New York; Washington, DC;, US. London, UK. (set). (see ''External links'' below). As a result of

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

studies of

DNA sequence A nucleic acid sequence is a succession of bases within the nucleotides forming alleles within a DNA (using GACT) or RNA (GACU) molecule. This succession is denoted by a series of a set of five different letters that indicate the order of the nu ...

s, ''Vitex'' is one of several genera that were transferred from the

Verbenaceae The Verbenaceae ( ), the verbena family or vervain family, is a family of mainly tropical flowering plants. It contains trees, shrubs, and herbs notable for heads, spikes, or clusters of small flowers, many of which have an aromatic smell. T ...

to the Lamiaceae in the 1990s. It is the largest genus in the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Viticoideae Viticoideae is one of seven subfamilies in the Salvia, sage family, Lamiaceae. Genera This subfamily contains the following 10 genera: * ''Cornutia'' L. * ''Gmelina'' L. * ''Paravitex'' Fletcher * ''Petitia'' Jacq. * ''Pseudocarpidium'' Millsp. ...

Taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

sampling in molecular phylogenetic studies has never been sufficient to test the

monophyly In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent comm ...

of the Viticoideae, but it is generally thought to be an unnatural group.Systematics of Lamiaceae Subfamily Viticoideae. At: Website of Kew Gardens. (see ''External links'' below). The subfamily is probably

diphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In cont ...

, with ''

Premna ''Premna'' is a genus of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae, first described for modern science in 1771. It is widespread through tropical and subtropical regions in Africa, southern Asia, northern Australia, and various islands in t ...

'', ''

Gmelina ''Gmelina'' is a genus of plants in the family Lamiaceae. It consists of about 35 species, native to Australia, Southeast Asia, India, New Guinea and New Caledonia. Some species such as ''G. arborea'' have been planted and/or become naturalised ...

'', and ''

Cornutia ''Cornutia'' is a genus of plants in the family Lamiaceae, first described in 1753. Species in this genus are native to tropical parts of the Western Hemisphere, including southern Mexico, Central America, the West Indies, and northern South Amer ...

'' constituting one

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

, and with ''Vitex'', ''Petitia'', ''Pseudocarpidium'', and ''Teijsmanniodendron'' constituting the other.Gemma L.C. Bramley, Félix Forest, and Rogier P.J. de Kok. 2009. "Troublesome tropical mints: re-examining generic limits of ''Vitex'' and relations (Lamiaceae) in South East Asia". ''Taxon'' 58(2):500-510.

Description

''Vitex'' is a genus of shrubs and trees, from 1.0 to 35 m tall. Some species have whitish bark that is characteristically furrowed. Leaves are opposite, usually compound. The fruit is a

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pip'' (UK), ''pit'' (US), ''stone'', or ''pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed ...

Circumscription

In 2009, a

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study showed that three small genera, ''Paravitex'', ''Viticipremna'', and ''Tsoongia'', are embedded in ''Vitex''. These three genera were duly sunk into

synonymy A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

with ''Vitex''. ''Pseudocarpidium'', ''Petitia'', and ''Teijsmanniodendron'' possibly are nested within ''Vitex''. Sampling in the 2009 study was not sufficient to determine the phylogenetic position of these genera. The relationships of ''Teijsmanniodendron'' to these genera was not discussed in a revision of ''Teijsmanniodendron'' in 2009.Rogier P.J. de Kok, Go Rusea, and Abdul Latiff. 2009. "The Genus ''Teijsmanniodendron'' Koord. (Lamiaceae)". ''Kew Bulletin'' 64(4):587-625.

Selected species

* '' Vitex acunae'' * ''

Vitex agnus-castus ''Vitex agnus-castus'' (also called vitex, chaste tree / chastetree, chasteberry, Abraham's balm, lilac chastetree, or monk's pepper) is a plant native of the Mediterranean region. It is one of the few temperate-zone species of ''Vitex'', which ...

'' — chasteberry, monk's pepper, chastetree * '' Vitex ajugaeflora'' * ''

Vitex altissima ''Vitex altissima'', the peacock chaste tree, is a species of woody plant reaching some 20 m in height, in the family of Lamiaceae. It is native to the Indomalayan realm, namely Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka, and is also f ...

'' * ''

Vitex amaniensis ''Vitex amaniensis'' is a species of plant in the family Lamiaceae. It is Endemism, endemic to Tanzania. References

Endemic flora of Tanzania Vitex, amaniensis Vulnerable plants Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Lamiaceae-stub ...

'' * '' Vitex capitata'' * '' Vitex chrysocarpa'' * ''

Vitex cofassus ''Vitex cofassus'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae. It is a tree native to Sulawesi, the Maluku Islands, New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago, Solomon Islands (archipelago), Solomon Islands, Caroline Islands, and Mariana Islan ...

'' * '' Vitex cooperi'' * '' Vitex cymosa'' * '' Vitex divaricata'' * '' Vitex doniana'' — wild African black plum, koronfinfin * ''

Vitex evoluta ''Vitex evoluta'' is a species of plant in the family Lamiaceae. It is endemic to New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropol ...

'' * '' Vitex gaumeri'' * '' Vitex gigantea'' * '' Vitex heptaphylla'' * '' Vitex keniensis'' — Meru oak * '' Vitex kuylenii'' * '' Vitex lehmbachii'' * '' Vitex leucoxylon'' * ''

Vitex lignum-vitae ''Vitex lignum-vitae'', known in Australia as yellow hollywood or " lignum-vitae" (also used for other species), is a rainforest tree of eastern Australia. The natural range of distribution is in dry, sub-tropical or tropical rainforest from the ...

'' — yellow hollywood, lignum-vitae * '' Vitex lindenii'' * '' Vitex longisepala'' * ''

Vitex lucens ''Vitex lucens'', commonly known as pūriri, is an evergreen tree endemic to New Zealand. History Pūriri was first collected (by Europeans) at Tolaga Bay by Joseph Banks, Banks and Daniel Solander, Solander during Cook's first visit in 1769. ...

'' — puriri * '' Vitex megapotamica'' * '' Vitex negundo'' — five-leaf chastetree * '' Vitex obovata'' * ''

Vitex orinocensis ''Vitex orinocensis'' is a species of tree in the family Lamiaceae. It is native to South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion ...

'' * ''

Vitex parviflora ''Vitex parviflora'' is a species of plant in the family Lamiaceae, also known as smallflower chastetree or the molave tree. The name "molave" is from Spanish, derived from ''mulawin'', the Tagalog word for the tree. It is also known as ''tugas' ...

'' — Molave tree * '' Vitex peduncularis'' * '' Vitex pinnata'' * ''

Vitex quinata ''Vitex quinata'', also known as joho lawe tree, is a flowering plant in the Lamiaceae family. It is native to Andaman Islands, the Andaman Islands, Assam (India), Bangladesh, Bismarck Archipelago, the Bismarck Archipelago, Borneo, Cambodia, C ...

'' * '' Vitex rotundifolia'' — beach vitex * ''

Vitex thyrsiflora ''Vitex thyrsiflora'' is a species of woody vine in the Family (biology), family Lamiaceae. It is native to tropical West Africa, West and Central Africa. Its hollow stem is used as a home by an aggressive species of ant. Description Although ma ...

'' * '' Vitex triflora'' * '' Vitex trifolia'' — simpleleaf chastetree * ''

Vitex tripinnata ''Vitex tripinnata'' is a species of tropical forest tree in the family Lamiaceae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family (biology), family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle, or sage family. Many of the plants a ...

'' * ''

Vitex urceolata ''Vitex urceolata'' is a species of plant in the family Lamiaceae. It is a tree endemic to Peninsular Malaysia. It is threatened by habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habit ...

'' * ''

Vitex yaundensis ''Vitex yaundensis'' is a species of plant in the family Lamiaceae. It is endemic to Cameroon. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened by habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat l ...

'' * ''

Vitex zanzibarensis ''Vitex zanzibarensis'' is a species of plant in the family Lamiaceae. It is found in Kenya and Tanzania. It is threatened by habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is ...

'' * '' Vitex zeyheri'' Vitex cannabifolia1

Description

Circumscription

Selected species

References

Further reading

External links