VITEX, the AGNUS CASTUS, or Chaste Tree; a genus of the angiospermia order, belonging to the dynamia class of plants. There are three species; of which the most remarkable is the agnus castus, or common chaste tree. This grows naturally in Sicily near Naples, by the sides of rivers, and in the Archipelago in moist places: it has a shrubby stalk 10 or 12 feet high, sending out branches opposite the whole length, which are angular, pliable, and have a greyish bark, garnished with leaves for the most part placed opposite, composed of five, six, or seven lobes, which unite at the footstalk, and spread out like the fingers of a hand, ending in blunt points, of a dark green on their upper side, but hoary on their under. The flowers are produced in spikes at the extremity of the branches, from seven to fifteen inches long, disposed in whorls round the stalks, with intervals between each whorl: they are of the lip-kind; the two lips are each cut into three segments, the middle being larger than the two sides; in some plants white, and in others blue; these are generally late before they appear; so that in bad seasons they do not open fair. The flowers have an agreeable odour, and make a good appearance in autumn, when the flowers of most other shrubs are gone; for, in warm mild seasons, these shrubs are in full flower in the middle of October.
This sort is pretty common in many English gardens, where it has been long an inhabitant, but was not much propagated till of late years. It is very hardy; and may be propagated by planting the cuttings early in the spring, before they shoot.