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(Last Modified On 5/13/2013)
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(Last Modified On 5/13/2013)
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Species
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Vitex parviflora A. L. Juss.
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PlaceOfPublication
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Ann. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. 7: 76. 1806.
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Synonym
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Vitex littoralis Decne., Nouv. Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. 3: 401. 1834, non V. littoralis A. Cunn., Ann. Nat. Hist., Ser. 1. 1: 461. 1838. Vitex altissima Blanco, Fl. Filip., ed. 1. 516. 1837, non V. altissima L. f., Suppl. P1. 293. 1781. Vitex glaberrima Zipp. ex Span., Linnaea 15: 330. 1841. Vitex timoriensis Walp., Repert. Syst. 4: 84. 1844. Vitex leucoxylon Span. ex Miq., Fl. Ind. Bat. 2: 863. 1856, non V. leucoxylon L. f., Suppl. P1. 293- 294. 1781. Vitex cofassus var. timorensis H. Hallier, Meded. Rijks-Herb. 37: 47. 1918. Vitex glandulosa H. J. Lam, Verbenac. Malay. Archipel. 199. 1919.
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Description
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Often much gnarled tree to 17 m tall, trunk to 90 cm d.b.h., branched from below the middle; branchlets mostly ampliate and thickened at the nodes, obtusely tetragonal, gray, lenticellate, glabrous; twigs buff or brownish, usually conspicu- ously white-lenticellate, minutely puberulent with short canescent or brownish hairs, glabrescent. Leaves 3-foliolate; leaflets subequal or the lateral 2 slightly
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Habit
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tree
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Description
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smaller, leaflets chartaceous, mostly drying uniformly grayish-green on both sur- faces, the central one oblong-elliptic or elliptic, 4-17.5 cm long and 2.2-7 cm wide, apically acuminate or caudate, varying to acute or even obtuse on smaller leaflets, entire or wavy-margined, abruptly acute or short-acuminate basally, minutely and obscurely puberulent on both surfaces or glabrous and shiny, the lateral pair similar but apically less caudate; petioles 3-7.5 cm long, sparsely and minutely pulverulent-puberulent, glabrescent; petiolules 3-19 mm long, slender, conspicuously canaliculate and minutely pulverulent or glabrate. Inflorescences axillary and terminal, paniculate-thyrsoid, erect or ascending, pinkish-gray, 10-21 cm long and 4.5-13.5 cm wide, often with 1-5 opposite pairs of paniculate branches, sometimes simple, each panicle of 4-10 or more pairs of stipitate, flowered cymes; peduncles 2-4 cm long, the rachis and inflorescence-branches slender, similar to the twigs in texture, color and puberulence or sometimes densely canescent-puberulent; pedicels mostly obsolete; foliaceous bracts often present in the larger thyrsoid inflorescence, 2-3-foliolate, long-stipitate, similar to the leaves but much smaller; bractlets and prophylls linear, 1-3 mm long or less, caducous. Flowers with the corolla blue or light-blue to purplish-blue or purple. Fruit black, ca. 8 mm wide.
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Distribution
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Steep slopes, rocky headlands, grassy slopes, and thickets near the sea through- out the Philippine Islands and Indonesia. The species is widely cultivated in subtropical and tropical lands, introduced in Panama for its wood which was used for railroad ties.
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Note
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In its native range the inflorescence is often partly or wholly replaced by great masses of tomentose bracts, bracteoles and galled flower-buds caused by the action of a Cecidomya insect.
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Specimen
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BOCAS DEL TORO: Cultivated, Almirante, Farm Number 5, Changuinola District, Seibert 1535 (MO).
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