Vitex.l 



VERBENACBiE. 273 



8. VITEX, Linn. 



Calyx 5-toothed or lobed. Corolla-tube short; the limb spreading, 5-lobed; 

 the lower lobe larger and longer than the others (as in Teucrium). Stamens 4, 

 m paii-s, exserted. Ovary 4-celled, ovules pendulous. Style acutely 2-lobed 

 at the top. Fmit a 4-celled drupe. — Trees or shi-ubs. Leaves usually digi- 

 tately compound. Flowers in cymes, sometimes axillaiy, but usually in ter- 

 minal panicles, either simple and spike-like or branched. 



A considerable tropical or subtropical genus, chiefly Asiatic or African, with a few American 

 or Australian species, and one extending into south Em-ope. 



Stem decumbent. Leaves mostly simple, white underneath. Calyx 2 



lines long . . 1. F. trifolia, via. 



Stem erect. Leaves digitate. Calyx about 1 line long. 



Leaflets white underneath 3. K Negundo. 



Leaflets green on both sides i.V.Lourein. 



1. v. trifolia, Linn.; Schau. in. I)C. Prod. xi. 683, var. unifoliolata. 

 A decumbent shrub ; the branches, under side of the leaves, and inflorescence 

 mealy-white. Leaves simple, stalked, obovate or rounded, 1 to 1^ in. long, 

 glabrous or nearly so above, at least when old. Mowers few, in nearly sessile 

 opposite cymes, forming short simple terminal spike-hke or narrow panicles. 

 Calyx about 3 lines long, very shortly 5-toothed, the corolla twice as long, 

 and both mealy-white outside. Drupe globular. — F. ovata, Thunb. ; Hook, 

 and Arn. Bot. Beech. 206, t. 47. 



Common in the maritime sands, Champion and others ; the Hongkong specimens are 

 all simple-leaved. The species is widely spread along the seaeoasts and great rivers of 

 eastern tropical Asia and the Pacific islands, and often has 3 leaflets longer and narrower 

 than in the simple variety, and the cymes more developed, but it has always the flowers nearly 

 twice as large as in V. Negundo. 



3. V. Negundo, Linn. ; Schau. in DC. Prod. xi. 684 ; Wight, Ic. t. 

 519. A shrub, usually erect; the branches, under side of the leaves, and in- 

 florescence mealy-white as in V. trifolia. Leaves aU compound with 3 or 5 

 leaflets oblong or lanceolate, entire or deeply toothed or pinnatifid, glabrous 

 or nearly so above, the central one 3 to 4 in. long, the lateral ones usually 

 smaller. Mowers small, in close opposite cymes, forming simple or branched 

 spike-like panicles, or very rarely the cymes become loosely dichotomous. 

 Calyx tomentose, nbt above 1 line long. Corolla much longer, usually to- 

 mentose outside, and hairy at the base of the lower lobe.— F. hicolor, WiUd. ; 

 Schau. in DC. Prod. xi. 688 (when the cymes are looser). V. ineisa, Lam. ; 

 Schau. 1. c. 684 (the cut-leaved forms). 



On the seacoast, Hanee, both with entire and cut leaflets. Common in tropical Asia, 

 and northwards to Chinese Mongolia. It is readily distinguished from the more western 

 V. Jgnws-castus, by the flowers not half the size. 



8. V. Loureiri, Hook, and Arn. Bot. Beech. 306, t. 48 ; Schau. in BO. 

 Prod. xi. 686. A shrub or small tree, minutely hoary, pubescent on the 

 branches under side of the leaves and inflorescence, not white as in V. Negundo 

 which it otherwise resembles. Leaflets 5 or rarely 3, oblong or lanceolate, 

 deeply toothed. Flowers small and inflorescence of V. Negundo. Calyx 

 tomentose. Corolla glabrous. 



Hongkong, Wright ; also on the adjoining continent, but not seen from elsewhere. 



T 



