Vitex agnus-castus L.
Eng.: Chaste tree, virgin tree. Spa.: Sauzgatillo. Fre.: Arbre au poivre, gattilier. Ara.: Kef maryem, bu mettin, rhar, hobb el kheraf, heruaâ, kheruae; the fruit: habb el fagod. Tam.: Angarf, angrif.
Shrub or small tree, deciduous, hermaphrodite, up to 4(6) m in height, erect, with long flexible branches. Trunk straight, with thick bark and deep longitudinal cracks, greyish-yellowish. Young stems and branches with smooth bark, light grey. Branchlets opposite, angular, subtetragonal, slightly tomentose, greenish. Leaves compound, opposite, with 5-7 leaflets open almost in star shape, with long petiole. Leaflets (1.5-12 × 0.7-3 cm) lanceolate, acute, with attenuate base, margin entire, flat or slightly undulate, sessile, glabrous and green on the upper side, tomentose-whitish on the underside. Inflorescence terminal, with 3-5 very showy, spiciform veticils. Flower 8-10 mm. Calyx campanulate, with 5 small teeth, short and obtuse, tomentose-whitish. Corolla tubular-campanulate, purple or pink, with 2 lips, the upper lip divided into 2 lobes and the lower tip into 3. Stamens 4, fused to corolla tube, very exserted. Fruit a small globose drupe, blackish when mature, mostly sheathed by the persistent calyx. 2n=24, 32.
Flowering:
June to October.
Fruiting:
September to November.
Habitat:
Banks of rivers, streams, watercourses, ponds and other wetlands, from near sea level to about 1,200 m. It can grow in a wide range ombrothermic conditions, from humid Mediterranean bioclimate to the Saharan continental desert.
Distribution:
Mediterranean Region. In North Africa it is usually a rare species. In Morocco and Algeria it grows scattered throughout almost the entire Mediterranean area and the northern Sahara, reaching in the S to the Drâa Hamada. In Tunisia, it is present only in some locations in the N (Ichkeul, Tabarka, etc.). It also appears scattered in the N of Libya and the N of Egypt, but some authors claim that these could be specimens that are cultivated, subspontaneous or already naturalised, since they appear in areas that have been occupied by humans since ancient times.
Observations:
Another North African species of the Verbenaceae family with woody stems, at least at the base, is Chascanum marrubiifolium Fenzl ex Walp. [Bouchea marrubiifolia (Fenzl ex Walp.) Schauer], a perennial herb or subshrub up to 30-60 cm in height, erect, covered by a tomentum of white short hairs; simple, ovate-lanceolate leaves; inflorescence in long terminal racemes and yellowish-white flowers. It is found in the central and southern Sahara.
Conservation status:
Rare but widely distributed species. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.