Vitex rotundifolia, the beach vitex, is one of Hawaii’s native plants which grows at seashores throughout the pacific. Though the leaves look little like those of most of the mint family (Lamiaceae) this plant nonetheless belongs to that family (its flowers do look lamiaceous!) This is one of the few native species I observed in the wild while visiting Oahu on commissioned work for Hana Hou! magazine. Considering its range, it is not surprising that this would be one of the most likely candidates to be stumbled upon in the wild, and in an inversion to the normal scheme, this plant is actually invasive in other parts of the world! Within the U.S., beach vitex has become naturalized and invasive in the east, with control protocols very similar to the invasive Anredera cordifolia (Madeira Vine) in parts of Australia. It has some remarkable and deleterious characteristics such as promoting hydrophibicity in dunes which impacts other plants’ ability to grow and producing methyl chloride which is a chemical implicated in causing damage to the ozone layer.
