Some plants stand quietly in the garden, and some speak. Vitex agnus-castus has been speaking for more than two thousand years, from sun-washed Mediterranean shores to monastery cloisters, from the herbals of ancient Greece to the borders of Southern gardens. In Homer's day the fragrant leaves and lavender flower spikes were woven into ritual garlands. The Romans knew the shrub as the chaste tree, a name wrapped in legend, since the peppery seeds were once thought to cool passion, which earned the seeds the cloister nickname of monk's pepper. The double name says as much twice over: agnus is Latin for lamb and castus for chaste, while the genus Vitex comes from vieo, to weave, a nod to the pliant branches once bent into baskets.
Chaste tree is a small deciduous tree in South but can be grown as a perennial in the North. The leaves have been mistaken for those of Cannabis (Marijuana). The clusters of lilac flowers in summer have caused some to call it "Summer Lilac". It is a lovely summer flowering tree native to southern Europe and western Asia. Plant it in an open site with well-drained soil. This variety 'Flora Ann' was selected and named by Greg Grant of Nacogdoches, Texas. He named it for the late Mrs. Flora Ann Bynum of Winston Salem, NC a dear friend and great gardener. It is derived from Greg's variety 'Selina's Pink' and has good deep pink flowers.
Vitex agnus-castus or Chaste Tree is a decidous small tree or large shrub native to southern Europe and western Asia. The five to seven leaflets are palmately arranged and aromatic when bruised. The plant is valued for it's showy terminal spikes of flowers which appear in sumer and are typically blue, lvender, or occasionally white. Pink flowered forms are uncommon and 'Salinas Pink' is perhaps the nicest. It was found in the garden of a Mrs. Salinas in San Antonio, Texas by plantsman Greg Grant. Plant Vitex in moist but well-drained soil in full sun. Vitex is a great substitute for Lilac in the Deep South.
A superior selection of the ancient chaste tree, chosen for the size and color of the bloom. Vitex agnus-castus 'Shoal Creek' is a deciduous large shrub or small tree, native in the species to southern Europe and western Asia and long grown across the South for a long season of summer flower. The palmate, aromatic leaves have now and then been mistaken for those of cannabis, a passing resemblance that gives the plant a certain conversational charm.
This large deciduous shrub or small tree is similar to Vitex agnus-castus but the five leaflets are very dissected and the panicles of blue flowers are more open. Overall it is a more open, airy, and possibly more hardy than Vitex agnus-castus. A good ornamental shrub with foliage that is deeply cut and not so readily mistaken for marijuana as Vitex agnus-castus.
A tough, salt-defying seaside groundcover with a serious caveat. Vitex rotundifolia, best known as beach vitex, is a low, prostrate, trailing shrub of the mint family, native to the coasts of eastern Asia, the Pacific islands, and Australia, where the plant binds shifting sand along the shore. Rounded, blue-green leaves about two inches across clothe the running stems, aromatic and slightly spicy when crushed, and spikes of bright lavender-blue flowers open in late summer.
This Vitex is a deciduous shrub or small tree with terminal spikes of blue flowers similar to Vitex negundo. It is something of a mystery. We propagated it from a plant at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, GA and had it labeled as Vitex cannabinifolia which is usually considered a variety of Vitex negundo. Cannabinifolia suggests that the leaves look like Cannabis which is true of some other Vitex but not this one. This plant has three, not five rather broad leaflets somewhat toothed on the margins making it's foliage looks much more like Poison Ivy (Rhus radicans) than like Marijuana. As with other Vitex, plant in a sunny site with good drainage.
A brightly variegated cousin of the chaste tree, grown for foliage as much as flower. Vitex trifolia, sometimes called the three-leaf chaste tree or Arabian lilac, is a warm-climate shrub of the mint family, native along tropical and subtropical coasts from eastern Africa through southern Asia to Australia and the Pacific. The species name trifolia points to the leaves, usually held in threes, and the selection 'Variegata' edges each gray-green leaflet in creamy white for a cool, luminous effect.
