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Vitex rotundifolia

L.f. (1782)

This name is accepted

Kingdom: Viridiplantae Phylum: Magnoliophyta Class/Clade: Eudicot-Asterids Order: Lamiales Family: Lamiaceae Genus: Vitex

beach vitex, hinahina kolo, kolokolo kahakai, mānawanawa [mawanawana], pōhinahina [pohinahina], pōlinalina [polinalina]

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Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Low, branched shrubs.

Stems: Stems procumbent often rooting at the nodes, forming mats several m in diameter, side branches ascending to erect, usually 1–3 dm long.

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves simple or rarely compound (palmate). Opposite or whorled (3 per node). Blades obovate to suborbicular; simple or with with 2–3 leaflets, 2–6.5 cm long, 1-4.5 cm wide. Apex rounded, rarely some of the upper ones short-acuminate. Base attenuate. Upper surfaces pale green, densely puberulent; lower surfaces grayish white, densely tomentose; aromatic when crushed, with a sagelike odor. Margins entire. Petioles 0–1 cm long. Stipules absent.

Flowers: Flowers usually 3 in cymes aggregated in narrow paniculate inflorescences 3–7 cm long, white or grayish tomentose throughout, bracteoles linear, 1–2 mm long. Flowers bisexual (perfect). Calyx cup-shaped, 4–4.5 mm long, enlarging somewhat up to ca. 5 mm long in fruit, 5–nerved, 5-toothed, the teeth very short, ca. 0.6–0.7 mm long, very. densely white tomentose. Corolla bilabiate, bluish purple, narrowly funnelform, densely puberulent externally, the tube ca. 8 mm long, upper 2 lobes ca. 3.5 mm long, margins recurved, lateral lobe ca. 4–4.2 mm long, lower lobe ca. 7.3–7.8 mm long, with 2 white short–pilose markings at base; nectary disk often present at base of ovary, annular or developed on anterior side only. Stamens 4, in 2 pairs, exserted from corolla tube, aligned with the sinuses; filaments ca. 9–10 mm long, pilose toward base; anthers dithecal, opening by longitudinal slits. Ovary superior, 2-carpellate, at first incompletely 2-celled, eventually becoming usually 4-celled; ovules 1 per cell; style 1, ca. 12 mm long, arising between lobes, exserted from corolla tube; placentation basal-axile; stigmas 2.

Fruit: Fruit drupaceous; fleshy; 4-celled; green; turning yellow and red–tinged; becoming bluish black at maturity; slightly depressed–globose; ca. 6 mm in diameter; endocarp hard. Seeds 1 per cell; obovate or oblong; endosperm absent.

Ploidy: 2n = 32; 34*

Habitat: Sandy beaches; shores; and dunes.

Elevation Range: 0–15 m.

Historical Distribution

Uses and Culture

USES

  • Flowers used in lei (McDonald 1989:67).

PROPAGATION/CULTIVATION

  • The round fruits of Vitex rotundifolia are about 1/4 inch in diameter and bluish purple to black when ripe.
  • The seeds are difficult to remove from the fruit, but the entire fruit can be planted. Soak the fruits for 48 hours to soften them before planting. The germination medium should be kept somewhat dry. Germination takes 3 to 6 months. (Koob 1998)
  • Vitex rotundifolia can be grown from cuttings taken when the plants are not in flower or fruit. NTBG recommends tip cuttings 4 inches long with at least 2 nodes and removing the leaves from the cuttings. Criley notes that they should be non-flowering terminals.
  • Vitex rotundifolia can be rooted without any hormone treatment. However, using a mild rooting hormone (e.g. 0.05% indolebutyric acid (IBA) and 0.025% naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA)) (Koob, email) will increase rooting success. Criley found that treatments with IBA, Hormex Nos. 3, 8, and 16 all improved root quality. Cuttings should be rooted in a well-drained rooting medium such as 3 parts perlite to 1 part vermiculite. Rooting takes 3 to 4 weeks under mist. (Criley 1998; Criley 1999; NTBG 1992; Koob 1998) [Data from Herring, E. C., & Criley, R. A. (2003). The Hawaiian Native Plant Propagation Web Site: Developing a Webbased Information Resource. HortTechnology, 13(3), 545-548. https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/hawnprop/]

Ethnobotanical Images

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Natural History

Statewide Status

Indigenous

Island Status

Ni'ihau(Incl. Lehua) Indigenous
Kuaihelani (Midway Atoll) Only found in cultivation
Kaua'i Indigenous
O'ahu Indigenous
Molokai Indigenous
Lana'i Indigenous
Maui Indigenous
Hawai'i Indigenous

Dispersal Agents


Pollinators

Notes

  • Description digitized by Ellena Ruiz
  • Description digitized from the Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawaii
  • also known as Beach vitex, kolokolo kahakai, hinahina kolo, mānawanawa, māwana-wono, pōhinahina, pōlinalina

Bibliography

Name Published In: Suppl. Pl.: 294 (1782)

Other References

Wagner et al. 1990:1326 (Ni, K, O, Mo, L, M, H); Staples & Herbst 2005:567 (KEY), 568 (DESCR)

Occurrences

SNo. Scientific Name Scientific Name Authorship Locality Habitat Basis of Record Recorded By Record Number Island Source Date
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