Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Lamiids: Lamiales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA (11/30/12):
Vitex rotundifolia
FAMILY
Lamiaceae
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Check out EDDMapS.org to see where this has been reported.
See more pictures at www.invasive.org.
Read more about Vitex at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Vitex rotundifolia
FAMILY
Verbenaceae
COMMON NAME:
Beach Vitex, Roundleaf Chaste-tree
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
)
Forest and Kim Starr, Starr Environmental, Bugwood.org bug_5285038
Month Unknown HI
A shrub or woody vine with runners, this can sprawl more than 60', per Invasive Plants, Guide to Identification, Impacts and Control.
)
Forest and Kim Starr, Starr Environmental, Bugwood.org bug_5286092
Month Unknown
Stems root at nodes, per Invasive Plants, Guide to Identification, Impacts and Control.
)
Forest and Kim Starr, Starr Environmental, Bugwood.org bug_5286095
Month Unknown
Brittle stems break during high tides, floating off to colonize new beaches, per Invasive Plants, Guide to Identification, Impacts and Control.
)
Forest and Kim Starr, Starr Environmental, Bugwood.org bug_5287063
Month Unknown
Leaves oval, silvery-gray, with a spicy odor when crushed, per Invasive Plants, Guide to Identification, Impacts and Control.
)
Forest and Kim Starr, Starr Environmental, Bugwood.org bug_5287075
Month Unknown
Small clusters of violet-blue flowers bloom at branch ends, per Invasive Plants, Guide to Identification, Impacts and Control.
WEAKLEY'S FLORA (11/30/12):
Vitex rotundifolia
FAMILY
Lamiaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Vitex rotundifolia
FAMILY
Verbenaceae
1666
Shrub; Woody vine
Perennial
Non-native: east & southeast Asia & nearby islands
Documented growing wild in GA NC SC
Uncommon (rare in GA)
Look for it on coastal dunes, planted for ornament & stabilization, and now spreading aggressively as an invasive species, per Weakley's Flora
Click here to see a more detailed map from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Herbarium,
or click here to see a map from SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
This plant is causing problems in natural areas outside its native range, according to authorities such as:
- Alabama Invasive Plant Council, 2012
- Forest Health Assessment & Applied Sciences Team: New Invaders of the Northeast
- Forest Health Assessment & Applied Sciences Team: New Invaders of the Southeast
- NC Department of Transportation
- SC Exotic Pest Plant Council, 2014
- Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, 2014
...Dry
LEAVES:
Deciduous
Simple, or palmately compound with 3 leaflets
Opposite
FLOWER:
Summer/Fall
Purple/ Bluish-purple
Bilaterally symmetrical
Slightly 2-lipped 5-toothed calyx
2-lipped 5-lobed salverform corolla
4 exserted stamens, attached to corolla tube
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Purple-black
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Invasive Plants, Guide to Identification, Impacts and Control p181
- Invasive Exotic Plants of North Carolina p024
- New Invaders of the Northeast and Northcentral US p009
- New Invaders of the Southeast p009