VITEX. Widespread, mostly in tropical regions. This is a large genus of the verbena family, including both trees and shrubs. They have paired leaves, often divided palm-like into several leaflets. The flowers are small but borne in clusters and often showy. They are irregular, two-lipped in form. The species described below have a variety of uses, from specimen shrubs to bank covers, according to size and habit. Sun, most soils, moderate to occasional watering when established. Their hardiness varies as shown.
agnus-castus. Chaste tree. Southern Europe, Asia. A beautiful deciduous shrub making fountains up to 10’ tall and 15’ or more broad. It has fragrant leaves divided palm-like into 5-7 narrow leaflets, each up to 4” long. The leaves are usually dark green above, densely hairy and grey beneath. In summer and fall the shoots are tipped by narrow 3-6” spikes of small lavender flowers. There are also white and pink flowered forms. Chaste tree makes a fine large specimen shrub and is useful as a tall screen. Or it can be trained as a small, unusual tree. Hardy to around 0oF.
negundo ‘Heterophylla’. A strongly upright shrub, growing 8-15’ high. It has five-parted leaves with strongly toothed, nearly dissected leaves. It carries its lilac flowers on plumes up to 8" long. 0oF. or less.
rotundifolia. Beach vitex. Hawaii and the South Pacific to East Asia. A low, widely spreading shrub, evergreen in mild climates. It has broad, round-tipped leaves up to 2" long. In the current form they are grey-green above, paler beneath. It displays short clusters of lavender flowers at the shoot tips in summer and fall. There is conflicting information regarding its hardiness—probably a function of the geographic origin of the plants in question, in this case unknown. Assume 20oF. or less, possibly much less.
trifolia var. purpurea (or ‘Purpurea’). The species is found in East and Southeast Asia and Australia. The origin of this material is unknown. It is an openly branched, somewhat spreading shrub, probably growing 6-8’ high. It has wonderful velvety leaves, on the same plant both undivided and cut into triplets of 2-3" leaflets. These are dark green with a strong purple tinge above, entirely painted in reddish purple beneath. It displays small purple flowers in short clusters at the shoot tips in late summer and fall. Assume 20oF. or a little less.