The great ancient herbalist Dioscorides wrote De Materia Medica in about 77 CE. In it, he described how using the plant Vitex could promote lactation and menstruation and decrease inflammation of the uterus. Nearly 2000 years later, herbalists in Europe still use Vitex agnuscastus as an herb to regulate menstrual cycles. Its plant compounds have progesterone-like effects. The plant has not been used much in the United States until recently. Vitex is also known as “the chaste tree” from the historical use of berries of Vitex being chewed by monks as an aid in celibacy. They are thought to have an anti androgenic effect. The aerial parts of Chaste tree often do not survive the winter this far north, but the shrub regrows from the roots each spring.

Part used::
Berries, Leaves

Origin:
Europe, Africa, Asia

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Origin

Mediterranean region; South-West Asian countries, up to Pakistan. (Seeds are imported from Iran.)

Action:

Dried ripe fruit—acts on the anterior pituitary gland, reducing FSH and increasing LSH; stimulates production of progesterone by reducing oestrogen; used as a substitution therapy in primary and secondary corpus luteum deficiency. Used for premenstrual syndrome, for regulating hormones in amenorrhoea and for bleeding between periods; also as a galactagogue and to assist bust development.

1) Hull, Kathleen; Photog. Hull, Meredith /Indiana Medical History Museum: Guide to the Medicinal Plant Garden./ USA: Indiana Medical History Museum. 2010. -- p. 58.

2) Khare, C.P./ Indian Medicinal Plants. -- Nueva Dheli: Springer, 2007 . - p 708.