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Vitex rotundifolia
Also called Beach Vitex, Round Leaf Chastetree
In Singapore: Round-Leaved Chaste Tree, Single-Leaf Chastetree (Native to Singapore)
Roundleaf chastetree is a sprawling, low seashore shrub (about 0.5 to 1 m tall) that roots at its stems and forms dense mats. It is grown as a coastal ground cover and needs sun, sandy well-drained soil and salt tolerance.
Vitex rotundifolia, the roundleaf chastetree or beach vitex, is a species of flowering plant in the sage family Lamiaceae. It is native to seashores throughout the Pacific. Its range includes continents and islands stretching from India east to Hawaii and from Korea south to Australia. This shrub typically grows approximately 1 m in height. It has a sprawling growth habit and produces runners that root regularly at nodes. This rooting pattern allows the plant to spread rapidly. At maturity, V. rotundifolia produces blue-purple flowers that are borne in clusters and ultimately yield small brown-black fruits. Its leaves are rounded at the tips with green upper surfaces and silver lower surfaces. While the plant is a seashore obligate, it grows over a wide latitude range. It has been used for medicinal purposes throughout its native range.
V. rotundifolia grows along sandy and rocky coasts from 0 to 15 m above sea level. Plants grow down to the ocean waves themselves. V. rotundifolia is highly tolerant of the harsh beach dune environment characterized by intense heat, high wind, coarse-textured soil, and elevated salinity.
Vitex rotundifolia has many medicinal uses. These uses generally parallel those of Vitex agnus-castus.
Chaste-tree · Black Plum · Meru oak · Vitex lucens · Chinese chastetree · Smallflower chastetree · Malayan Teak · Simpleleaf chastetree
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Vitex rotundifolia by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
