AGNUS Castus, in Botany, the trivial name of a species of the vitex. See VITEX, BOTANY INDEX. The Greeks call it aryos, chaste; to which has since been added the reduplicative castus, q. d. chaste, chaste. It was famous among the ancients as a specific for the preservation of chastity. The Athenian ladies, who made profession of chastity, lay upon leaves of agnus castus during the feasts of Ceres. — From the time of Dioscorides the seeds of agnus castus have been much celebrated for their antiaphrodisiac virtue. Modern writers ascribe to them an opposite effect; but they are seldom used in practice.