Vitex trifolia L.

Shrub or small tree to 6.5 m. or some varieties procumbent or creeping and rooting at the nodes, mostly much branched below with slender stems; bark brown, smooth; young branches densely pubescent with greyish hairs.. Leaves opposite, 1–5-foliolate; leaflets oblong-elliptic or obovate to oblanceolate or sometimes almost round, 1.5–7 cm. long, 0.8–4 cm. wide, obtuse, emarginate or rounded to acute or acuminate at the apex, cuneate to attenuate or rarely rounded at the base, entire or in one variety 2–3-sect, puberulous or glabrescent and ± gland-dotted above, tomentose to densely velvety pubescent beneath; petioles 0.6–3.3 cm. long; petiolules 0.1–2 cm. long.. Inflorescences terminal and axillary in upper leaf-axils, much branched panicles of many-flowered cymes 3–23 cm. long, 2–4 cm. wide; peduncles 1–5 cm. long together with the rhachis grey-pubescent; cymes short, 0.4–1.5 cm. long; pedicels ± 1 mm. long; main bracts leaf-like; bracteoles linear, 1–3 mm. long.. Calyx 4–5 mm. long, 2.5–3.5 mm. wide with acute or blunt teeth, densely white tomentose outside.. Corolla blue, lavender or purple, sometimes pale, puberulous outside; tube 1–1.3 cm. long, limb 2-lipped, the lower up to 6 mm. long.. Fruits yellow or reddish turning blue or black, globose or ovoid, about 5 mm. long and wide, the calycine cup 5 mm. long and wide, pubescent outside.

Coastal sand dunes and sandy seashores (ssp littoralis). Found in teak forest, secondary forest and thickets at elevations up to 1,100 metres, but also in mangrove forest and along the shore.

Plants can be grown from seeds and cuttings.