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chastetree Verbenaceae Vitex negundo L. Listen to the Latin Print a QR link to this factsheet symbol: VINE2
Leaf: Opposite, palmately compound, 2 to 6 inches across, usually five leaflets per leaf (3-7), leaflets ovate, obovate or lanceolate wih entire or toothed margins, light green above and pale pubescent below, very aromatic when crushed.
Flower: Lilac, in loose slender spiked panicles at the branch tips, to 8 inches, mid-summer.
Fruit: Round green and fleshy, drying and turning brown, 1/8 inch in diameter, persistent through winter, held cup-like.
Twig: Slender, opposite, gray-brown, quadrangular, buds are wedge-shaped to rounded and gray-brown.
Bark: Initially smooth and gray-brown, becoming blocky on older stems.
Form: A large shrub or small tree to 15 feet. When planted too far north it may freeze to the ground.
 Looks like: lilac chastetree - beach vitex

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Additional Range Information: Vitex negundo is planted in the USDA hardiness zones shown above and is not known to widely escape cultivaton. Download the full-size PDF map.
External Links: USDA Plants Database - Horticulture Information - USDAFS Forest Products Lab
All material 2021 Virginia Tech Dept. of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation; Photos and text by: John Seiler, Edward Jensen, Alex Niemiera, and John Peterson; Silvics reprinted from Ag Handbook 654; range map source information