Vitex lucens (Puriri)

The name Chaste tree for this species comes from a species of southern Europe,Vitex agnus-castus, where it was treated by ancients as a symbol of chastity and long ago discussed in this regard by Pliny the Elder. Puriri does not mean that the species from New Zealand is pure, but coincidentally a tree along the coast near the Bay of Plenty is treated as sacred by the Maori people; they claim that the remains of important ancestors repose in large cavities within its roots.