Species
+

Vitex negundo L.

Chinese Chaste Tree, Chinese Chastetree, Chinese chaste tree, Chinese chastetree (EN)

Climate known 69 photographs
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Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Vitex negundo, commonly known as the Chinese chaste tree, five-leaved chaste tree, or horseshoe vitex, or nisinda is a large aromatic shrub with quadrangular, densely whitish, tomentose branchlets. It is widely used in folk medicine, particularly in South and Southeast Asia.

Text from Wikipedia, “Vitex negundo”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Vitex

Vitex is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae containing about 210 species. Common names include chaste tree or chastetree, traditionally referring to V. agnus-castus, but often applied to other species, as well, and pūriri for the New Zealand species V. lucens. Species of Vitex are native throughout the tropics and subtropics, with a few species in warm-temperate Eurasia and one in New Zealand.

Text from Wikipedia, “Vitex”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Lamiaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Somalia, Tanzania, Mozambique +28
Wild records
1003 in range· 397 open

At a glance

Warmest month
30°C
Jul, mean day; nights 24 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1417mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jun 256 mm (CHELSA)
Light
19–34DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to September in the northern hemisphere (May to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1417 mm a year, wettest June at 256 mm, driest January at 28 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 19 to 34 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -0.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Agnus-castus negundo (L.) Carrière; Verbena cannabifolia Siebold & Zucc.; Vitex agnus-castus var. negundo (L.) Kuntze; Vitex negundo f. alba C.P'ei; Vitex negundo f. intermedia C.P'ei and 4 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to September in the northern hemisphere (May to September at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1027 mm of 1417 mm) falls in May to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 26.0 °C against a yearly mean of 19.8 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to March.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1417 mm a year, wettest June at 256 mm, driest January at 28 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1417 mm a year at the habitat, 1027 mm of it May to September. Wettest month June at 256 mm, driest January at 28 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 816 mm to 2857 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 19 to 34 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 19 to 34 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 14, the highest 90th-percentile month 42).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -0.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -0.9 °C, the absolute minimum -10.4 °C, about 6 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 34.0 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 5.6 °C in January (across the envelope cells -4.5 °C to 17.9 °C), warmest day 29.7 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -0.9 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 59 to 65% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 14 °C in Jan to 30 °C in Jul; mean night from 6 °C in Jan to 24 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1417 mm of rain a year, most in Jun. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 738 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -10.4 °C and the 99th-percentile day 34.0 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-20°-10°10°20°30°40°frost34.0° 99th-percentile day (undated)-10.4° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 19–34RH 59–65 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 738 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C14 / 5–2715 / 8–2919 / 12–3123 / 18–3227 / 22–3129 / 24–3130 / 26–3229 / 26–3228 / 23–3025 / 18–2820 / 13–2816 / 7–27
Night °C6 / -5–188 / -2–1911 / 2–2116 / 8–2420 / 13–2523 / 17–2624 / 20–2624 / 19–2621 / 15–2517 / 10–2312 / 3–217 / -3–19
Rain mm28 / 6–8641 / 8–12662 / 18–197107 / 26–232190 / 56–299256 / 87–460231 / 140–479199 / 128–461151 / 82–37775 / 36–26348 / 17–12629 / 7–59
DLI19 / 14–3222 / 15–3827 / 18–4132 / 23–4233 / 27–3932 / 27–3734 / 27–3832 / 27–3529 / 24–3225 / 18–3121 / 15–3019 / 14–30
RH %60 / 52–6562 / 52–6662 / 51–6762 / 52–6763 / 54–6764 / 57–7065 / 61–7065 / 61–7064 / 60–6861 / 57–6760 / 55–6559 / 53–64

Each figure is the median across the 738 grid cells holding the 985 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1299:5783 (25.025, 109.175). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -10.4 °C, 1st-percentile night -0.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 34.0 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 738 distinct grid cells holding the 985 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1299:5783 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 25.00_109.375, lapse-corrected -154 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 172 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeSomalia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Mauritius, Madagascar, Afghanistan, Iran, China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast, Tibet, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Laccadive Is., Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., Thailand, Vietnam, Marianas· introduced: Bulgaria, Jawa, Malaya, Philippines, Sumatera, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Cuba, Haiti, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is.
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker22.906, 120.551 · in the densest population, 267 records (27% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1003 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 397 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 173 km away. 279 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 18 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1003 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Vitex negundoVitex negundoVitex negundoVitex negundoVitex negundoVitex negundoVitex negundoVitex negundo

Photographs: (c) Sandy Wolkenberg, some rights reserved (CC BY) (8).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Vitex negundo, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities of mature fresh leaves of Vitex negundo
M.G. Dharmasiri, Dushantha Nalin K. Jayakody, Gayani Galhena, Shashima Liyanage (2003) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Screening of antioxidant activity, total phenolics and GC-MS study of Vitex negundo
Pradeep Kumar, Sakthivel Kumaravel, Lalitha Cheepurupalli (2010) · African Journal of Biochemistry Research
Green Synthesis and Antibacterial Effect of Silver Nanoparticles Using Vitex Negundo L.
Mohsen Zargar, Azizah Abdul Hamid, F. Abu Bakar, Mariana Nor Shamsudin (2011) · Molecules
Total Phenolic Compounds, Flavonoids, and Radical Scavenging Activity of 21 Selected Tropical Plants
Roheeyati Ashikin Mustafa, Azizah Abdul Hamid, Suhaila Mohamed, F. Abu Bakar (2009) · Journal of Food Science
The Evaluation of Nitric Oxide Scavenging Activity of Certain Indian Medicinal Plants In Vitro: A Preliminary Study
Ganesh Chandra Jagetia, Manjeshwar Shrinath Baliga (2004) · Journal of Medicinal Food
Antibacterial behaviour of Vitex negundo extract assisted ZnO nanoparticles against pathogenic bacteria
Subramanian Ambika, Mahalingam Sundrarajan (2015) · Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B Biology
Isolation, characterization and biological activity of betulinic acid and ursolic acid from Vitex negundo L.
C. Chandramu, Rao D. Manohar, D Krupadanam, Reddy V. Dashavantha (2003) · Phytotherapy Research
Formulation and evaluation of topical herbal gel for the treatment of arthritis in animal model
Rajasekaran Aiyalu, Arulkumaran Govindarjan, Ramasamy Arivukkarasu (2016) · Brazilian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Recommended Medicinal Plants as Source of Natural Products: A Review
Henry Ivanz A. Boy, Alfred Joshua H. Rutilla, Kimbberly A. Santos, Allister Matthew T. Ty (2018) · Digital Chinese Medicine

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Vitex 4 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 90 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.