Vitex altissima L.f.
| Kannada Name : | Myrole, Nevaladi, Navuladi, Balgay |
| Common Name : | Peacock chaste tree |
| Family Name : | Lamiaceae |
| Scientific Name : | Vitex altissima |
| Species Type : | Exotic |
| Phenology : | Deciduous |
| Conservation Status : | Least concern |
| Flowering Period : | April - May |
| Fruiting Period : | July - August |
| Origin : | Bangladesh, India, Myanmar |
Uses
The bark is used as a fomentation in treating rheumatic swellings. The leaves and roots are used in Ayurvedic medicine. The plant is believed to pacify vitiated kapha, vata. It is used to treat inflammations, wounds, ulcers, allergies, eczema, pruritus, worm infestations, urinary system diseases, stomatitis, emaciation, and ailments after parturition.
Description
Deciduous trees, up to 30 m high, bark greyish-yellow, scaly; blaze yellow; branchlets, quadrangular, lenticellate, minutely tomentose. Leaves compound, trifoliate, rarely up to 5, opposite, rachis slender, pubescent, winged in sapling leaves, wings auriculate at base; leaflets sessile, lanceolate, elliptic-lanceolate, or oblanceolate, glabrous above and pubescent or glabrescent along the nerves below, chartaceous, base cuneate or acute, apex acuminate, margin entire. Inflorescence a terminal panicle. Flowers bisexual, white, tinged with blue. Fruit a drupe, smooth, globose, glabrous, blue, supported by enlarged calyx; seeds 4, obovate.
