Karinochi

Scientific Name :

Vitex negundo L.

Synonym(s) :

Vitex laciniata Schauer

Local/Common name(s) :

Karinochi

Family :

Vebenaceae

Habit :

Tree

Flowering/Fruiting Time :

February-July

Habitat :

Grown as hedge plant, also growing wild

Endemic :

No

Status (IUCN) :

Least concern (LC)

Distribution :

Indo-Malesia and China, cultivated throughout the tropics

Nativity :

Indigenous

Uses :

Medicine

Description (Morphology) :

Shrubs or small trees; purple pubescent all over, aromatic. Leaves 3-5-foliolate; leaflets 6-13 x 2-5 cm, narrowly oblong or elliptic to lanceolate, base acute, apex acuminate. Panicles terminal, 10-25 cm long. Calyx 5-toothed obconic, c. 3 mm long, teeth triangular. Corolla deep purple to violet, ca. 7 mm across, hypocrateriform; tube 3-5 mm long, puberulent without, upper lipd 2-lobed, lower 3-lobed with the middle lobe larger, obovate, undulate-margined, other lobes shorter, subequal, obtuse. Stamens 4, filaments purple. Ovary c. 1 mm long; style purple; stigma 2-fid. Drupe 3-5 mm across, globose, purple or black.