Vitex
(the old Latin name used by Pliny for this or some similar shrub). SYNS. Limia, Nephrandra, Psilogyne, Wallrothia (of Roth). ORD. Verbenaceae. A genus comprising about sixty species of stove, greenhouse, or hardy trees or shrubs, broadly dispersed over the warmer regions of the globe, a few extending to temperate Asia and South Europe. Flowers white, blue, violet, or yellowish, in variously-disposed cymes; calyx five-toothed or cleft, or rarely three-cleft; corolla tube straight or slightly incurved, usually short, the limb oblique, spreading, sub-bilabiate, five-cleft, the lower lobe largest; stamens four, didynamous; bracts small or rarely longer than the calyx. Leaves opposite, often digitately compound, rarely one-foliolate or simple; leaflets three to seven, petiolulate, entire or toothed. A selection of the best-known species is given below. V. Agnus-castus succeeds in any common, tolerably dry soil, and may be increased by cuttings, inserted in similar soil, under a glass, in autumn. A compost of loam and peat is most suitable for the stove and greenhouse species, which may be multiplied by cuttings, inserted in sand, under a glass, those of the stove kinds in heat.
V. Agnus-castus (classical name).* Chaste-tree; Hemp-tree; Monk's Pepper-tree; Tree of Chastity. fl. pale lilac; cymes sub-sessile, in glomerate whorls; panicles terminal or axillary. August. l. long-petiolate, mostly five-foliolate; leaflets lanceolate, acuminate, attenuated at base, entire or sometimes cut-serrated, whitish beneath. h. 6ft. South Europe, 1670. Shrub, hardy in the South of England.(S.F.G. 609.) V. bicolor (two-coloured). A synonym of V. Negundo.
V. bignonioides (Bignonia-like). fl. blue; cymes somewhat head-like, on peduncles 2in. to 3in. long. June. l. petiolate, five-foliolate; leaflets oblong, acuminate-cuspidate, narrowed at base, entire, 2in. or more long, glabrous, sub-equal; common petiole 1 1/2in. or more long. h. 8ft. Venezuela, 1826. Stove tree.
V. Doniana (Don's). Black Plum. fl. disposed in a moderate sized panicle. l. five-foliolate, obovate. Sierra Leone. A large, stove tree. V. ilicifolia (Holly-leaved). fl. in axillary cymes, longer than the leaves, on long peduncles, trichotomously branched, rusty-pubescent. Summer. l. simple, very shortly petiolate, broadly oval, sub-acute at apex, acute or cordate-emarginate at base, very slenderly reticulate-veined; margins sinuate-toothed, the teeth spiny. West Indies. Stove shrub. V. Lindeni (Linden's).* fl. pale lilac, streaked with red inside the tube, shortly pedicellate or sessile, in three to six-flowered, pedunculate, axillary cymes; corolla tube thrice exceeding the calyx, the limb flat, two-lipped, the upper lip of two smaller, the lower of three larger, rounded lobes. May. l. digitately three to five-foliolate, on slender petioles; leaflets sessile, elliptic or elliptic-obovate, abruptly acuminate, pale green, glabrous. Branches spreading; branchlets and inflorescence hoary-pubescent. Columbia, 1876. Stove shrub or small tree. (B.M. 6230.) V. Negundo (Negundo). fl. purple; corolla 1/4in. to 1/3in. long; panicles terminal, closely white-tomentose. June. l. three to five-foliolate; leaflets lanceolate, entire or crenate, glabrate above, white-tomentose beneath. h. 4ft. India, 1812. Stove shrub or small tree, closely allied to V. trifolia. SYN. V. bicolor.
V.N. incisa (cut-leaved).* l., leaflets crenate-serrate or subpinnatifid. India, China, &c. Greenhouse. (B. M.364, under name of V. Negundo.) V. trifolia (three-leafleted). Indian Wild Pepper. fl. varying from lavender to blue; corolla tomentose, 1/3in. to 1/2in. long; panicles 1in. to 4in. long, oblong, white-tomentose, often leafy at base. July. l. simple and trifoliolate; leaflets sessile, obovate or obovate-oblong, entire, 1in. to 3in. long, sub-obtuse, glabrate above, clothed beneath with matted, scarcely stellate hairs. h. 4ft. India, Polynesia, &C., 1739. Stove shrub or small tree. (B.M.2187.) V. t. variegata (variegated). fl. violet-purple. l. opposite, with white margins. South Sea Islands, 1876. A slender, greenhouse shrub, with downy branches.
