Vitex negundo

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Photographs by: Dr. Maulik Gadani

Botanical Name : Vitex negundo L.
Common Name : Nagod, Chaste Tree
Plant Family : Verbenaceae
Plant Form : Tree
Occurrence (Sectors) : 1, 4, 5, 24, 27, 29, 30
Occurrence (Special Areas) : Gujarat Forestry Research Foundation, Indroda Park, Van Chetana Kendra, Aranya Van

Habit : A small tree with square, white and hairy stem.
Leaves : Opposite, 3-5 foliate, leaflets petioled, lanceolate, acute, terminal leaflet largest, white hairy below.
Inflorescence : Branched, hairy cymes, forming a large in terminal panicle.
Flowers :
- Bracteate, bracts lanceolate, caduceus.
- Calyx bell-shaped, white-hairy, teeth 5, triangular.
- Corolla bluish purple, bilipped, upper lip divided into 2 lobes, lower lip 3-lobed.
- Stamens 4, didynamous, filaments hairy at the base.
- Ovary glabrous, 4-celled, ovules 4, style slender, stigma bifid.
Fruits : Drupe surrounded at the base by the calyx.
Flowering and Fruiting Time : More or less throughout the year.
Significance :
- The decoction of the leaves is used as a vapour bath after fever.
- It is very useful in dispersing swellings of joints from acute rheumatism.
- A pillow stuffed with leaves is placed under the head for relief of headache.