Vitex agnus-castus
species of plant
Vitex agnus-castus (also called vitex, chaste tree / chastetree, chasteberry, Abraham's balm, lilac chastetree, or monk's pepper) is a plant native of the Mediterranean region. It is one of the few temperate-zone species of Vitex, which is on the whole a genus of tropical and subtropical flowering plants. Vitex is a cross-pollinating plant, but its self-pollination has been recorded.
Theophrastus mentioned the shrub several times, as ágnos (ἄγνος) in Enquiry into Plants. It has been long believed to be an anaphrodisiac – leading to its name as "chaste tree" – but its effectiveness for such action remains unproven. The shrub was utilized for religious rituals in ancient Greece and among the Philistines in modern Palestine as well as other countries in the Levant region.
Etymology and common names
Vitex, its name in Pliny the Elder, is derived from the Latin vieo, meaning to weave or to tie up, a reference to the use of V. agnus-castus in basketry. Its macaronic specific name agnus-castus repeats "chaste" in both Greek and Latin; the small tree was considered to be sacred to the virginal goddess Hestia/Vesta. The most common names are "chaste tree", "vitex", and "monk's pepper".
Description
Vitex agnus-castus is widely cultivated in warm, temperate, and subtropical regions for its delicately textured, aromatic foliage and butterfly-attracting midsummer spikes of lavender flowers opening in late summer in cooler climates.
“Vitex agnus-castus” enters the record as species of plant. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Vitex, agnus-castus and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q259318. The Library of Congress control number is sh97008691. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Vitex agnus-castus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.