Vitex negundo

What to Eat

Edible parts: Seeds, Roots - tea, Leaves - tea, Fruit, Leaves

The seed is occasionally used as a condiment and pepper substitute. When washed to remove bitterness it can be ground into a flour, though it is very much a famine food used only when other options are exhausted. A tea is made from the roots and leaves.

Where to Find It

It grows in subtropical uplands. It grows in moist places and near water and up to 1,700 m above sea level. It can grow in arid places. It suits hardiness zone 8. At MARDI.

Afghanistan, Africa, Asia, Australia, Bangladesh, Britain, Cambodia, Caroline Islands, China, Cuba, East Africa*, Europe, Fiji, France, Guam, Haiti, Himalayas, India, Indochina, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mariana Islands, Mauritius, Micronesia, Middle East, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Niue, Northeastern India, Pacific, Pakistan, Palau, Philippines, Samoa, SE Asia, Sikkim, Singapore, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Tibet, Trinidad-Tobago, USA, Vanuatu, Vietnam, West Indies,

How to Identify

A small bush. It loses its leaves during the year. It can grow 5-10 m high. The leaves are compound and with 3-5 leaflets. These are sword shaped and have stalks. They are 4-12 cm long. They are dark green on the upper surface and have whitish hairs underneath. The flowers are in a spreading cluster. They are light blue or purple. The flowers are about 1 cm long. The fruit are about 1 cm across.

How to Grow

An easily grown plant, it prefers a light well-drained loamy soil in a warm sunny position sheltered from cold drying winds. Succeeds in poor dry soils. Plants tolerate temperatures down to about -10°c. They are not very hardy in Britain, they succeed outdoors at Kew, but in general are best given the protection of a sunny wall outside the milder areas of the country. Plants only flower freely after a warm summer, so they are best grown against a sunny wall even in areas where they are hardy. The flowers are produced so late in the season that they are unlikely to produce viable seed in this country even if they flower properly. The plants require abundant summer sunshine in order to ripen their wood fully, the well-ripened wood is more frost resistant. There are some named forms, selected for their ornamental value. The leaves and stems are strongly aromatic. The flowers have a most pronounced musk-like perfume.

Propagation: Sow seed in March in a greenhouse; no pre-treatment is needed and germination is usually free and quick. Prick out seedlings into individual pots when large enough to handle and overwinter in the greenhouse. Plant out into permanent positions in early summer the following year. Alternatively, take half-ripe wood cuttings 5–8 cm with a heel in July or August in a frame — a good percentage can be expected. Cuttings of mature wood from the current season's growth can also be taken in November in a cold frame.

Medicinal Uses

This species is widely used in Chinese herbal medicine and is the second most important treatment for chronic bronchitis (specifically the sub-species V. negundo cannabifolia). The leaves are astringent, febrifuge, sedative, tonic, and vermifuge. They are useful for dispersing swellings of the joints from acute rheumatism and of the testes from suppressed gonorrhoea. Leaf juice is used to remove foetid discharges and worms from ulcers, and an oil prepared from the leaf juice is applied to sinuses and scrofulous sores. Leaves are harvested in early summer and used fresh or dried. A decoction of the stems treats burns and scalds. The dried fruit is vermifuge and is also used for angina, colds, coughs, and rheumatic difficulties. Fresh berries are pounded to a pulp and used as a tincture to relieve paralysis, pains in the limbs, and weakness. The root is expectorant, febrifuge, and tonic, used for colds and rheumatic ailments; it is harvested in late summer and autumn and dried for later use. The plant is said to act as a malarial preventative and is used in the treatment of bacterial dysentery. Leaf extracts have shown bactericidal and antitumor activity.

Other Uses

Young stems are used in basket making and for making wattles. The leaves are used to repel insects in grain stores, and leaf extracts have demonstrated insecticidal activity. Fresh leaves are burnt with grass as a fumigant against mosquitoes. The plant is grown on slopes to counter landslides.

Vitex negundo, commonly known as the Chinese chaste tree, five-leaved chaste tree, or horseshoe vitex, or nisinda is a large aromatic shrub with quadrangular, densely whitish, tomentose branchlets. It is widely used in folk medicine, particularly in South and Southeast Asia. Vitex negundo is an erect shrub or small tree growing from 2 to 8 m (6.6 to 26.2 ft) in height. The bark is reddish brown. Its leaves are digitate, with five lanceolate leaflets, sometimes three. Each leaflet is around 4 to 10 cm (1.6 to 3.9 in) in length, with the central leaflet being the largest and possessing a stalk. The leaf edges are toothed or serrated and the bottom surface is covered in hair. The numerous flowers are borne in panicles 10 to 20 cm (3.9 to 7.9 in) in length. Each is around 6 to 7 cm (2.4 to 2.8 in) long and are white to blue in color. The petals are of different lengths, with the middle lower lobe being the longest. Both the corolla and calyx are covered in dense hairs. The fruit is a succulent drupe, 4 mm (0.16 in) in diameter, rounded to egg-shaped. It is black or purple when ripe.

Other Information

It is sold in local markets in China.

Notes

It is used in medicine. Also put in the family Verbenaceae.

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