Vitex zeyheri

Vitex zeyheri, the silver fingerleaf, is a shrub or small tree of up to 6 m in height (SA Tree List No. 666).

The flowers grow in branched heads from leaf axils on 5 cm stalks. The corolla tube is white, the lobes pale mauve. The fruit is pear-shaped, enclosed by the persistent flower calyx that is by autumn dry and papery.

The species distribution ranges from Gauteng and North West across the border to southeast Botswana and further. The photo was taken at Kalkrand in Namibia.

The habitat is arid, stony slopes and valleys. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Van Wyk and Van Wyk, 1997; iNturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).