Food Plants International - Plant Fact Sheets Vitex mombassae - Smelly Berry

Edible parts: Fruit, Seed, Ash - salt

A shrub or tree. It grows up to 6 m tall. It often has many branches from the base. The leaves have 3-5 leaflets. The leaves have long stalks but the leaflets are stalkless. The leaflets radiate from one point and the end one is the largest. The leaflets are 7.5 cm long and 1.9 cm wide. They are densely velvety below. The flowers are violet or 2 coloured. The occur in groups on long stalks in the axils of leaves. The fruit has a hard stone and a thin fleshy covering. It is black when mature. The fruit is edible.

A tropical plant. It grows in the lowlands. It grows in the savannah. It prefers sandy soils. It occurs in hot areas on stony outcrops. It is also in deciduous woodland and especially on Kalahari sand. In Kenya it grows from sea level to 450 m altitude. It grows in areas with an annual rainfall of 955-1,050 mm. It can grow in arid places. It grows in Miombo woodland.