Distribution and habitat: Found throughout India

Botany: Large shrubs or small trees, upto 4.5 m high. 

• Leaves :  Petiolate, digitately compound. Leaflets 3-5, lanceolate or elliptic lanceolate, unequal, entire or coarsely crenate-serrate, acute to acuminate, nearly glabrous above, tomentose beneath.
• Flowers: Blue purple, crowded in short cymes, forming erect, narrow, tapering, terminal or axillary panicles.
•  Fruits: Sub globose, drupaceous, 2-3 mm across.
•  Seeds: 2-4, in bony endocarp.

Properties: The plant is bitter, acrid, thermogenic, anthelmintic, expectorant, carminative, digestive, stomachic, anodyne, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, cephalic, alterant, anti pyretic, diuretic, emmenagogue, depurative, rejuvenating, ophthalmic, vulnerary and tonic.

Chemical constituents: Hentriacontane, vanillic acid, vitexincaffeate, β-sitosterol, p-hydroxy benzoic acid and flavone glycosides

Uses: 

• Root is used in arthritis, bronchitis, verminosis, malarial fever, ulcer, general debility.
• Leaves used in cephalgia, sprains, orchitis, rheumatism, syphilis, inflammations and ulcers.
• Oil used in sinuses, scrofulous sores, wounds, ulcers and gangrenous wounds.
• Bark is used in odontalgia, verminosis and ophthalmic disorders.
• Flowers used in diarrhoea, cholera, fever, hepatopathy and cardiac disorders.
• Leaves and bark are used in scorpion stings.
• Seeds used in eye diseases (in the form of anjan)

Formulations: Nirgundiyadi kasayam, Nirgundi-taila

Agro technology 

Soil: It tolerates variety of soil, from heavy to light and degraded soil. Also prefers organic rich soil.

Propagation: Reproduce readily from shoot cuttings and from root suckers. 60 day old rooted cuttings are planted at 3m x 2m spacing.

Manuring: Pits are filled with FYM 1 kg/pit and top soil. Apply organic manure twice a year.

Harvesting: Stem and leaves can be harvested at regular intervals from second year onwards up to 10th year of planting