The chaste tree earns both halves of a strange name. Vitex agnus-castus has been grown around the Mediterranean since antiquity, and the seeds, peppery enough to have been used as a spice, carried a long reputation for damping the appetites, which is how the plant came to be called monk's pepper and how the species name arrived. The berries sit in the herbal tradition still, under the name chasteberry.

In a Southern garden the case is simpler: this is one of the best small flowering trees for heat, drought, and poor ground. Blue-violet spikes open in early summer on new wood and repeat where the spent heads are cut, the aromatic gray-green foliage looks well through August, and the flowers are worked by bees from morning to evening. 'Shoal Creek' holds the largest and deepest blue panicles. Give the plants full sun and sharp drainage, cut hard in late winter for the strongest bloom, and expect a fast, forgiving small tree.