Monk's pepper
| Vitex agnus-castus | |
|---|---|
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| General form of a blossoming adult Vitex agnus-castus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Asterids |
| Order: | Lamiales |
| Family: | Verbenaceae |
| Genus: | Vitex |
| Species: | V. agnus-castus |
| Binomial name | |
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Vitex agnus-castus L. |
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Vitex agnus-castus, also called vitex, chaste tree, chasteberry, Abraham's balm,lilac chastetree, or monk's pepper, is a native of the Mediterranean region. It is one of the few temperate-zone species of Vitex, which is on the whole a genus of tropical and sub-tropical flowering plants.Theophrastus mentioned the shrub several times, as agnos (άγνος) in Enquiry into Plants. It has been long believed to be an anaphrodisiac but its effectiveness remains controversial. This is a cross-pollinating plant. However self-pollination may also occur now and then.
Vitex, its name in Pliny the Elder, is derived from the Latin vieo, meaning to weave or to tie up, a reference to the use of Vitex agnus-castus in basketry. Its macaronic specific name repeats "chaste" in both Greek and Latin, and considered to be sacred to the goddess Hestia/Vesta.
Confusion with Vitex on the part of early settlers in the West Indies may have given to Ricinus communis the name "Castor-oil plant". Or the name "castor oil" might have come from its use as a replacement for castoreum.
The controlled cultivation of medicinal plants like vitex agnus-castus gains increasing importance due to the modern quality standards and safety regulations such as GMP, that are required practices in order to conform to the guidelines recommended by agencies that control authorization and licensing for manufacture and sale of inter alia drug products, and GACP (Good Agricultural And Collection Practice), that is a guideline to ensure appropriate and consistent quality of medicinal plant respectively herbal substances. Only one variety of monks pepper, namely the variety “Agnuzell 440” that is optimized for medicinal use, is registered (as of April 2009) with CPVO, a system of plant variety rights. But the controlled cultivation is economically not satisfactory regarding the yield.
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