Vitex agnus-castus
Also known as monk's pepper, lilac chastetree, lilac chaste tree, chaste tree, chasteberry
species of plant
Species
Lilac chaste tree
SPECIES
- KingdomPlantae
- PhylumTracheophyta
- ClassMagnoliopsida
- OrderLamiales
- FamilyLamiaceae
Native toAfghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Baleares, Bulgaria, Corse, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Egypt, France, Greece, Gulf States
Observations21,828
Common Name: the chaste tree
via GBIF · Kew POWO
Article
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 is on the whole a genus of tropical and subtropical flowering plants. Vitex is a cross-pollinating plant, but its self-pollination has been recorded.
Theophrastus mentioned the shrub several times, as ágnos (ἄγνος) in Enquiry into Plants. It has been long believed to be an anaphrodisiac – leading to its name as "chaste tree" – but its effectiveness for such action remains unproven. The shrub was utilized for religious rituals in ancient Greece and among the Philistines in Palestine as well as other countries in the Levant region.
Gallery (2)
Connections
Categories
AnaphrodisiacsBotanical taxa named by Carl LinnaeusButterfly food plantsFlora of the Mediterranean basinGarden plants of EuropeIUCN Red List data deficient speciesMedicinal plants of EuropeOrnamental treesPlants described in 1753Taxonbars with 30–34 taxon IDsTrees of EuropeTrees of Mediterranean climate