Vitellaria paradoxaC.F.Gaertn.

Shea Butter Treeshea buttershea tree

WFO wfo-0000332885 Accepted WFO 2026-06 7 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–g · 4 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 4 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Vitellaria paradoxa, photographed by Fuseini Mugisu Suhuyini
fig. a Fuseini Mugisu Suhuyini, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2022-06-07 / obs. 204096136
Vitellaria paradoxa, photographed by Sunday Berlioz KAKPO
fig. b Sunday Berlioz KAKPO, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 162527011
Vitellaria paradoxa, photographed by Sunday Berlioz KAKPO
fig. c Sunday Berlioz KAKPO, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 151025069
Vitellaria paradoxa, photographed by Mike Musgrave
fig. d Mike Musgrave, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 49379513
Vitellaria paradoxa, photographed by Mike Musgrave
fig. e Mike Musgrave, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 49380763
Vitellaria paradoxa, photographed by Mike Musgrave
fig. f Mike Musgrave, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 49379599
Vitellaria paradoxa, photographed by Mike Musgrave
fig. g Mike Musgrave, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 49379441

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 18 botanical countries

Regions where Vitellaria paradoxa is native: Benin, Burkina, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan-South Sudan, Togo, Uganda BeninBurkinaCameroonCentral African RepublicChadDR CongoEthiopiaGhanaGuineaGuinea-BissauIvory CoastMaliMauritaniaNigeriaSenegalSudan-South SudanTogoUganda
Native distribution of Vitellaria paradoxa, 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.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Benin BEN AFRICA
Burkina BKN
Cameroon CMN
Central African Republic CAF
Chad CHA
DR Congo ZAI
Ethiopia ETH
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Guinea-Bissau GNB
Ivory Coast IVO
Mali MLI
Mauritania MTN
Nigeria NGA
Senegal SEN
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Togo TOG
Uganda UGA

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 20 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.

  • Bassia parkii G.Don
  • Butyrospermum mangifolium (Pierre ex A.Chev.) A.Chev.
  • Butyrospermum niloticum Kotschy
  • Butyrospermum paradoxum (C.F.Gaertn.) Hepper
  • Butyrospermum paradoxum subsp. niloticum (Kotschy) Hepper
  • Butyrospermum paradoxum subsp. parkii (G.Don) Hepper
  • Butyrospermum parkii (G.Don) Kotschy
  • Butyrospermum parkii subsp. niloticum (Kotschy) Hepper
  • Butyrospermum parkii var. cuneatum A.Chev.
  • Butyrospermum parkii var. ferrugineum A.Chev.
  • Butyrospermum parkii var. floccosum A.Chev.
  • Butyrospermum parkii var. mangifolium Pierre ex A.Chev.
  • Butyrospermum parkii var. niloticum (Kotschy) A.Chev.
  • Butyrospermum parkii var. parvifolium A.Chev.
  • Butyrospermum parkii var. poissonii A.Chev.
  • Butyrospermum parkii var. serotinum A.Chev.
  • Butyrospermum poissonii (A.Chev.) A.Chev.
  • Lucuma paradoxa (C.F.Gaertn.) A.DC.
  • Mimusops capitata Baker
  • Mimusops pachyclada Baker

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.