Lamiaceae FAMILY Least Concern

Vitex payos

Edibility

4/5

Medicinal

2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitTree

Growth—

Vitex payos is a species of the tropics, growing in hot, low and semi-arid places with a high water table. In more arid zones it is found near rock outcrops. It grows in areas where the mean annual rainfall is within the range 650 - 850 metres^[1]. The tree coppices well^[1].

Propagation

Seed - it has a hard seed coat which hinders germination^[1]. In the wild the seedcoat is broken by annual fires^[1]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Vitex+payos>

Pollinators

Bees

References

[1]World Agroforesty Centre — http://www.worldagroforestry.org/ ↩︎An excellent online database of a huge range of trees giving very good information on each plant - its uses, ecology, identity, propagation, pests etc.
[2]Flora Zambesiaca — http://apps.kew.org/efloras/fz/intro.html ↩︎An excellent online flora of plants from the Zambezi River basin. It lists a number of the plant uses as well as the habitats and botanical descriptions of the plants.
[3]Lost Crops of Africa. Vol. 3 Fruits. — National Academy Press · 2008 · ISBN 030910596X ↩︎Masses of information on about 70 species of plants that have been utilized as fruits in Africa.
[4]Edible Wild Plants of Tanzania — Ruffo, C.K.: Birnie, A. & Tengnas, B. · Regional Land Management Unit; Nairobi. · 2002 · ISBN 9966-896-60-0 ↩︎A very well presented, simple guide to growing and utilizing wild food plants in Tanzania, with line drawings of each plant, a description, habitat and range, non-food as well as food uses, plus basic information on growing the plants.
[5]IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — http://www.iucnredlist.org/ ↩︎A list of plants under threat and facing possible extinction, usually with brief details of the threats and information on habitat.