AGNUS CASTUS, in Botany, the trivial name of a species of the vitex. See VITEX, BOTANY INDEX. The Greeks call it ayne, 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.