Vitex ferrugineaSchumach. & Thonn.

plum fingerleaf

WFO wfo-0000333079 Accepted WFO 2026-06 3 photographs CC0

Plate 1 figs. a–c · 1 observation

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 1 time, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Vitex ferruginea, photographed by rosshawkins
fig. a rosshawkins, CC0 1.0 / 2022-05-26 / obs. 201851499
Vitex ferruginea, photographed by rosshawkins
fig. b rosshawkins, CC0 1.0 / obs. 201949281
Vitex ferruginea, photographed by rosshawkins
fig. c rosshawkins, CC0 1.0 / obs. 201949094

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 29 botanical countries

Regions where Vitex ferruginea is native: Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Caprivi Strip, Central African Republic, Congo, DR Congo, Eswatini, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Liberia, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe AngolaBeninCameroonCape ProvincesCaprivi StripCentral African RepublicCongoDR CongoEswatiniGabonGhanaGuineaGuinea-BissauIvory CoastKenyaKwaZulu-NatalLiberiaMozambiqueNamibiaNigeriaNorthern ProvincesSierra LeoneSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaTogoUgandaZambiaZimbabwe
Native distribution of Vitex ferruginea, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Angola ANG AFRICA
Benin BEN
Cameroon CMN
Cape Provinces CPP
Caprivi Strip CPV
Central African Republic CAF
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Eswatini SWZ
Gabon GAB
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Guinea-Bissau GNB
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Liberia LBR
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Sierra Leone SIE
Somalia SOM
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Togo TOG
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 20 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Vitex amboniensis Gürke
  • Vitex amboniensis var. amaniensis W.Piep.
  • Vitex amboniensis var. schlechteri W.Piep.
  • Vitex bracteosa Mildbr.
  • Vitex dryadum S.Moore
  • Vitex ferruginea subsp. amboniensis (Gürke) Verdc.
  • Vitex ferruginea var. amaniensis (W.Piep.) Verdc.
  • Vitex ferruginea var. amboniensis (Gürke) Verdc.
  • Vitex fosteri C.H.Wright
  • Vitex guerkeana H.Pearson
  • Vitex laevigata Baker
  • Vitex laurentii De Wild.
  • Vitex lomiensis Mildbr.
  • Vitex oxycuspis var. mossambicensis Moldenke
  • Vitex pearsonii W.Piep.
  • Vitex polyantha Baker
  • Vitex swynnertonii S.Moore
  • Vitex tangensis Gürke
  • Vitex welwitschii Gürke
  • Vitex welwitschii var. laurentii (De Wild.) W.Piep.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.