Vitex agnus-castus
Part Used: Dried mature berry (Morocco)
Chaste Tree (Vitex agnus-castus) is a deciduous shrub of free spreading habit, young shoots covered with a fine grey down. The fresh ripe berries are pounded to a pulp and used in the form of a tincture for the relief of paralysis, pains in the limbs, weakness, etc. It is indigenous to the Mediterranean countries and Central Asia. It is also found in parts of India and in Burma. The dried fruit, which has a pepper-like aroma and flavor, is used in western herbalism.
For over 2500 years Chaste Tree has been used for gynecological conditions since the days of Hippocrates. With a rich traditional of use, modern research supports historical wisdom, and has made Chaste Tree fruit preparations a phytomedicine of choice by European gynecologists for treatment of various menstrual disorders, PMS, and other conditions. Given the positive results of experimental studies in the 1940s and 50s coupled with clinical experience, has lead to the use of Chaste Tree extracts in European phytotherapy in several major areas including: management of menstrual disorders, PMS, treatment of infertility produced by mild corpus luteum insufficiency, and hot flashes at the initial stages of menopause, among other conditions. Chaste Tree berry has been used since ancient times as a female remedy. One of its properties was to reduce sexual desire, and it is recorded that Roman wives whose husbands were abroad with the legions spread the aromatic leaves on their couches for this purpose. The herb has may properties like anti-parasitical, alterative, aromatic, vermifuge, pain reliever, febrifuge, expectorant, diuretic, cephalic, emmanagogue, and vermifuge.
References:
Steven Foster Group. http://www.stevenfoster.com/education/monograph/vitex.html
Holistic Online. http://www.holisticonline.com/Herbal-Med/_Herbs/h174.htm
Botanical.Com. http://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/c/chatre50.html
