Vitex negundo
Family: VERBENACEAE
Malayalam Name(s): Nochi, Vellanochi
English name(s): Arabian Lilac, Hand of Mary, Indian Privet, Indian Three-Leaf Vitex
Habit: Shrub
Flowering & Fruiting: May-July
Medicinal: Yes
Habitat: Coastal areas and plains
Description: Shrub, 3-6 m high; branches and branchlets obtusely 4-angular or subterete, pubescent; nodes annulate; internodes 2.5-5 cm long. Leaves 1-3 foliolate; petioles slender, canaliculate, 0.5-3.5 cm long, grey-appressed-pubescent; leaflets ovate-oblong or obovate, obtuse or acute to cuneate at base, entire along margins, acuminate at apex; middle leaflets 2.5-6.5 x 1-3.5 cm; petiolules ca 0.5 cm long or subsessile; lateral leaflets 2.5-4.5 x 1-1.5 cm, sessile; chartaceous, dark green pubescent with resinous glands above, white-or grey-tomentose beneath; lateral nerves 7-12 pairs, obscure on both surfaces. Panicles terminal and supraaxillary, 5-26 cm long; peduncles obtusely 4-angular, greyish-pubescent; bracts leaf-like, simple or 3-foliolate, smaller than leaves; bractlets linear, 1-4 mm long, pubescent. Flowers fragrant; pedicels 0.5-1 cm long. Calyx campanulate, 5-toothed, ca 4x 3 mm; teeth triangular, ca 0.2 mm long, greyish-pubescent outside. Corolla hypocrateriform, 2-lipped, 5-lobed, violet, purple or blue; upper lip 2-lobed; lobes ovate, 2 mm; lower lip 3-lobed; midlobe obovate or suborbicular, entire, acute, ca 6 x 5 mm; lateral lobes ovate, acute, ca 3 x 2 mm; tube narrow, ca 4 x 2 mm, densely villous at throat, pubescent, glandular outside. Stamens 4, didynamous; filaments slender, 7-8 mm long, hairy at base, anthers oblong, ca 1 mm long, basifixed. Ovary globose, ca 1 mm, gland-dotted at apex, glabrous at base; style slender, ca 1.5 cm long, glabrous; stigma 2-lobed; lobes subulate, equal. Drupes subglobose or ovoid, ca 6 x 5 mm, black when mature, glabrous; fruiting-calyx cupular, ca 1 cm across, membranous, pubescent.
