Vitex rotundifolia

Common Name: beach vitex

Family: Verbenaceae

Common Synonyms: none

USDA Hardiness Zone: 7 to 10

Growth Habit: Shrub

Origin: Japan, eastern Asia, Southeast Asia, India, Pacific islands.

FISC Category: 1

FDACS Listed Noxious Weed: Yes

Introduction Date: 1980s in North Carolina

IFAS Assessment:

• North: INVASIVE
• Central: INVASIVE
• South: INVASIVE

Description

Woody, deciduous shrub growing 30 to 60 cm tall, procumbent stems sprawling to 5 m or more, rooting at nodes, forming dense mats with age. Leaves suborbicular, opposite, 2 to 7 cm long, blue-green above and light greenish-white below, pubescent, with spicy aroma when crushed. Flowers blue-purple, to 2 cm long, in short terminal panicles to 8 cm long. Fruits green, turning blue-black at maturity, to 6 mm in diameter.

Habitat

Beach dune

Comments

Can colonize beach foredunes, established in North and South Carolina.

Control Methods

• Manual: Removal using a machete, shears, or a pruning saw to slice stems diagonally, close to the ground and with the cut surface facing up, and then applying an herbicide to the exposed cuts. Thick stands of small seedlings or resprouts can be treated with a roller dipped in herbicide. Sparse seedling populations can be pulled out manually.
• Chemical: An imazapyr solution at 1.2 g ai/cm (0.1 oz ai/in) applied to recently cut stems effectively controlled beach vitex in both greenhouse and field studies. Foliar applications of imazapyr in greenhouse and field studies confirmed that it effectively controlled beach vitex at rates of 1.0, 1.4 and 2.0 kg ai/ha (0.89, 1.25 and 1.79 lb ai/A). Imazapyr effectively controlled beach vitex in these studies whether applied either as a cut stem treatment or as a foliar spray application. Ineffective control was observed from glyphosate and triclopyr applications, which resulted in beach vitex regrowth (Whitwell et al. 2016).
• Biological: NA

Control Notes

Note: Clippings should be placed in plastic trash bags and sent to a landfill. They should not be used for mulch, as seeds and broken shoots left behind will wash to new beaches during storms and take root.

References

Clemson University Cooperative Extension. 2013. Home and Garden Information Center. http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/pests/weeds/hgic2315.html. Accessed on December 6, 2013.

Public Works Magazine. 2013. http:/www.vegetationmanagement.pwmag.com/bestpractices/coastal_exotic_vine_diminishes_dunes.html. Accessed on December 6, 2013.

University of Georgia - Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health. 2013. Invasive Plant Atlas of the United States: beach vitex (Vitex rotundifolia L.). http://www.invasiveplantatlas.org/subject.html?sub=11609. Accessed on December 6, 2013.