Vitex agnus-castus L., Lamiaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  High risk, score: 9 (Go to the risk assessment)

Common name(s): [more details]

English: chasteberry, chastetree, lilac chastetree

French: arbre chaste, Gattilier

Habit:  shrub

Description:  "Erect shrub, 1-2 m high, sometimes up to 4 m high, whitish-tomentose, with obtusely quadrangular branches. Leaves palmately 5-7-foliolate, 2 extreme leaflets (especially in 7-foliolate leaves) much shorter and smaller than the others; leaflets usually lanceolate, (2-) 5-10 (-12) cm long, (4-) 10-15 (-20) mm broad, whitish-tomentose underneath, ± acuminate, subsessile to petiolulate, usually entire. Terminal inflorescence 10-20 cm long, subcylindrical, interrupted; cymes forming verticillaster, ± compact, sessile or subsessile, each usually 8-13 mm long. Flowers lilac or deep violet, c. 4 mm across. Calyx 3 mm long, 2 mm broad, campanulate, truncate, triangulate to obscurely toothed, persistent. Corolla 7-10 mm long, exceeding the calyx; lower lobes glabrous to slightly pubescent at the base. Drupe globose, 2-2.5 mm in diameter, exserted half-way above the slightly enlarged and expanded, persistent calyx, glabrous, 4-celled, with usually 1 seed in each cell"  (Flora of Pakistan online).

Habitat/ecology:  (no habitat/ecology info known by PIER)

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Northern Africa, Europe, western Asia; naturalized elsewhere (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaua‘i Island		Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.) (1990) (voucher ID: BISH 595117) Taxon name on voucher: Vitex agnus-castus L.
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island		Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.) (1984) (voucher ID: BISH 488322) Taxon name on voucher: Vitex agnus-castus L.

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
China China	Hong Kong	introduced cultivated	Wu, Te-lin (2001) (p. 232)
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (Oregon)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (California)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	United States (other states)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	USA (Florida)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)

Additional information:
Fact sheet from Virginia Tech.

Additional online information about Vitex agnus-castus is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Vitex agnus-castus as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Vitex agnus-castus may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.). 1984. Voucher specimen #BISH488322(Clay, H.F. s.n.).

Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.). 1990. Voucher specimen #BISH595117(Lorence, D.H. 6610).

Nasir, E./Ali, S. I., eds. 1985. Flora of Pakistan. Pakistan Ag. Res. Council, Islamabad. 1970-1985, 170 vols (also on-line edition).

U. S. Government. 2011. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) (on-line resource).

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. 2011. The PLANTS Database. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Wu, Te-lin. 2001. Check List of Hong Kong Plants. Hong Kong Herbarium and the South China Institute of Botany. Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department Bulletin 1 (revised). 384 pp.