Vitex keniensis is a species of plant

Plant

Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...

 in the Verbenaceae

Verbenaceae

Verbenaceae, commonly known as the verbena family or vervain family, is a family of mainly tropical flowering plants. It contains trees, shrubs and herbs notable for heads, spikes, or clusters of small flowers, many of which have an aromatic smell.Recent phylogenetic studies have shown that...

 family. It is endemic to Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

. It is threatened by habitat loss. It is a magnificent tree when mature, being one of the largest trees that are native to Kenya. Due to its use as a source of wood that is both durable and has an attractive grain is has been severely over-exploited and is now very rare. It has a tall, straight trunk and light green leaves with five leaflets arranged in a vaguely star-like formation. Each leaflet can be up to 25 cm long with a prominent midrib. Young trees are particularly susceptible to a disease of the leaves that produces "bubbles" all over the upper surface of the leaves but which does not appear to affect the growth of the tree.

Source

• World Conservation Monitoring Centre 1998. Vitex keniensis. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 24 August 2007.