Medicinal plant details
Vitex negundoL.
(Nirgundi)
| Common name | Nirgundi |
| Habit | Shrub |
| Habitat | Humid places or along water courses in wastelands and mixed open forests |
| Parts used | Leaf |
Synonyms
| Sr. No. | Synonyms |
|---|---|
| 1 | Vitex leucoxylon Blanco |
| 2 | Vitex negundo var. incisa (Lam.) C.B.Clarke |
| 3 | Vitex simplicifolia B.N.Lin & S.W.Wang |
| 4 | Vitex negundo f. intermedia C.P ei |
| 5 | Vitex negundo var. intermedia (C.P ei) Moldenke |
| 6 | Vitex agnus-castus var. negundo (L.) Kuntze |
| 7 | Vitex agnus-castus var. negundoides Kuntze |
| 8 | Vitex negundo var. macrophylla Moldenke |
| 9 | Vitex negundo f. alba C.P ei |
| 10 | Vitex negundo f. laxipaniculata C.P ei |
| 11 | Vitex negundo var. sessilis Moldenke |
| 12 | Agnus-castus negundo Carrière |
| 13 | Vitex trifolia var. crenatis Lam. |
| 14 | Vitex nogondo Linnaeus ap.Bojer |
Taxonomical information
| Kingdom | Viridiplantae |
| Phylum | Streptophyta |
| Class | Magnoliopsida |
| Order | Lamiales |
| Family | Lamiaceae |
| Genus | Vitex |
| Species | Vitex negundo L. |
Vernacular names
| Sanskrit | Sinduvara, Samphalika, Nila |
| English | Five leaved Chaste tree |
| Hindi | Nirgundi, Sinduar, Sambhalu |
| Kannada | Lakkigida, Nekkigida |
| Marathi | Nirgundi |
| Malayalam | Indranee, Nirgundi |
| Bengali | Nirgundi, Nishinda |
| Tamil | Karunochchi, Nocchi |
| Telugu | Nallavavilli, Vavili |
| Urdu | Sambhalu, Panjangusht |
Morphology
It is shrub or small tree, erect, 2.5 m in height, cluster of five pointed leaves resembling a palm. Leaves are palmately compound, mostly trifoliate occasionally pentafoliate, leaflets are lanceolate, acute, surface glabrous above and tomentose beneath. Flowers are purple to violet in terminal panicles. Fruits are globose and black in colour with four seeds when ripen
Distribution
It is found in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, eastern Africa and Madagascar. It is grown commercially as a crop in parts of Asia, Europe, North America and West Indies. Within India, distributed throughout the greater part of India up to an altitude of 1500 m in the outer Himalayas
Medicinal uses
Anti-inflammatory, analgesic, removes foetid discharges and worms from ulcers, analgesic, antihistaminic property, snake venom neutralizing capacity, hepatoprotective and CNS depressant activities
References
| 1 | Basri, F., Sharma, H. P., Firdaus, S., Jain, P., and Ranjan, A. (2014). A review of ethnomedicinal plant-Vitex negundo Linn. Int. J. Adv. Res, 2(3), 882-894. |
| 2 | Muthuswamy Umamaheswari, M. U., Kuppusamy Asokkumar, K. A., Nandagopi Umamageswari, N. U., Thirumalaisamy Sivashanmugam, T. S., and Varadharajan Subhadradevi, V. S. (2012). Protective effect of the leaves of Vitex negundo against ethanol-induced cerebral oxidative stress in rats. |