Vitex payos (Lour.) Merr.

Meerts, Pierre, 2018, Synopsis of the genus Vitex (Lamiaceae) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Plant Ecology and Evolution 151 (3), pp. 380-392 : 388-389

14. Vitex payos (Lour.) Merr.

( Merrill 1935: 334); Moldenke (1957: 45); Verdcourt (1992: 63); ( Beentje 1994: 623); Lebrun & Stork (1997: 525); van Wyk & van Wyk (1997: 478); ( Sales 2001: 200; 2005: 86); Coates Palgrave & Coates Palgrave (2005: 985); Cabral (2013: 238); Meerts (2016: 231), nom. conserv.

– Type: Tanzania, Tanga, Jan. 1893, Volkens 1 (neo-: BM barcode BM000839710 designated by Verdcourt (1989) ; isoneo-: E00193459) .

A shrub. Young twigs with woolly fulvous tomentum. Leaves 5-foliolate, petiolule 0; lamina rounded at tip, softly pubescent above, strongly discolorous, greyish floccosetomentose beneath. Inflorescence of dichasia, greyish-beige tomentose; calyx 3–4 mm, greyish-beige tomentose; corolla 6–8 mm, whitish-mauve; stamens included, ovary hairy. Fruit 14–30 mm long.

Distribution – From Kenya southwards to Zimbabwe, and westwards to Angola.