Vitex
Chaste Tree
Vitex agnus-castus
Photographed along the Salt River in Phoenix, Maricopa Co., Arizona. Oct. 2009.
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RANGE: This non-native plant has escaped cultivation from California
across the southern tier of the United States to Florida. It is considered an
exotic invasive in many regions. In the Sonoran Desert it tends to occur along
rivers where there is a permanent water supply and normally near cities where
seeds from cultivated plants have dispersed.
FLOWERS: Spikes of tubular, usu. five-limbed, purple-lavender flowers by
summer and into fall.
LEAVES: Leaves are palmately compound, usu. have five leaflets, and are
conspicuously aromatic when crushed.
TREE or SHRUB: A small tree or large shrub often branching near ground
level.
FRUIT: Spike clusters of dryish golden-yellow berries with four seeds.
The berries have been used as a seasoning, "Monks Pepper".
UNARMED