Sclerocarya birrea(A.Rich.) Hochst.

marula

WFO wfo-0000434908 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Sclerocarya birrea, photographed by Dave Richardson
fig. a Dave Richardson, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-04-23 / obs. 190018961
Sclerocarya birrea, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. b Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 139792793
Sclerocarya birrea, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. c Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 139793758
Sclerocarya birrea, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. d Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 139791043
Sclerocarya birrea, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. e Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 139569497
Sclerocarya birrea, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. f Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 139569289
Sclerocarya birrea, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. g Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 139570924
Sclerocarya birrea, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. h Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 139715566

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 36 botanical countries

Regions where Sclerocarya birrea is native: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Cameroon, Caprivi Strip, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, DR Congo, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Senegal, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe AngolaBeninBotswanaBurkinaCameroonCaprivi StripCentral African RepublicChadDR CongoEritreaEswatiniEthiopiaGambiaGhanaGuineaGuinea-BissauIvory CoastKenyaKwaZulu-NatalMadagascarMalawiMaliMauritaniaMozambiqueNamibiaNigerNigeriaNorthern ProvincesSenegalSudan-South SudanTanzaniaTogoUgandaZambiaZimbabwe Comoros
Native distribution of Sclerocarya birrea, 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. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Angola ANG AFRICA
Benin BEN
Botswana BOT
Burkina BKN
Cameroon CMN
Caprivi Strip CPV
Central African Republic CAF
Chad CHA
Comoros COM
DR Congo ZAI
Eritrea ERI
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Gambia GAM
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Guinea-Bissau GNB
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mali MLI
Mauritania MTN
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Niger NGR
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Senegal SEN
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 13 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.

  • Commiphora acutidens Engl.
  • Commiphora subglauca Engl.
  • Poupartia afra (Sond.) H.Perrier
  • Poupartia birrea (Hochst.) Aubrév.
  • Poupartia caffra (Sond.) H.Perrier
  • Poupartia excelsa Marchand
  • Sclerocarya afra Sond.
  • Sclerocarya birrea var. multifoliolata Engl.
  • Sclerocarya caffra Sond.
  • Sclerocarya schweinfurthiana Schinz
  • Sclerocarya shakua Baker
  • Shakua excelsa Bojer
  • Spondias birrea A.Rich.

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.