Taxon: Vitellaria paradoxa C. F. Gaertn.

• the 4 historical accession(s) associated with this name.
• Check PlantSearch database of Botanic Gardens Conservation International for possible non-NPGS germplasm.

Common names:

• bambouk-buttertree   (Source: PROTABASE ) – English
  
• galam-buttertree   (Source: PROTABASE ) – English
  
• karite-nut   (Source: Conserv. Biol. 1990) – English
  
• shea   (Source: Websters Dict [as Butyrospermum parkii]) – English
  
• shea-buttertree   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – English
  
• sheatree   (Source: Websters Dict [as Butyrospermum parkii]) – English
  
• arbre à beurre   (Source: PROTABASE ) – French
  
• karité   (Source: PROTABASE ) – French
  
• Schibutterbaum   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – German
  
• cárei   (Source: PROTABASE ) – Portuguese
  
• carité   (Source: PROTABASE ) – Portuguese
  
• árbol montequero   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – Spanish
  
• butirospermo   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – Spanish
  
• sheasmörträd   (Source: Vara kulturvaxt namn ) – Swedish
  

Economic importance:

• Food additives: flavoring   (source of shea oils fide Blicher-Mathiesen, Econ Bot. 48:236.)
  
• Human food: fruit   (fide PROTABASE)
  
• Human food: oil/fat   (fide Food Feed Crops US)
  
• Materials: latex/rubber   (for glue, chewing gum, candles, cosmetics, lotions, medicine-base, waterproofing fide PROTABASE)
  
• Materials: lipids   (for glue, chewing gum, candles, cosmetics, lotions, medicine-base, waterproofing fide PROTABASE)
  
• Medicines: folklore   (fide PROTABASE)
  
• Non-vertebrate poisons: plant pest control   (fide PROTABASE)
  

More:

View toxicology references for Vitellaria paradoxa from FDA Poisonous Plant Database

View phytochemical data from Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases

Distributional range:

• AFRICA
  Northeast Tropical Africa: Ethiopia; Sudan
  East Tropical Africa: Uganda
  West-Central Tropical Africa: Cameroon; Central African Republic; Zaire [e.]
  West Tropical Africa: Benin; Ghana; Guinea-Bissau; Nigeria; Senegal

References:

• PROTABASE, the information base of PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa) (on-line resource).
• Adu-Ampomah, Y. et al. 1995. Collecting germplasm of sheanut (Vitellaria paradoxa) in Ghana. Pl. Genet. Resources Newslett. 102:37–38.
• Aldén, B., S. Ryman & M. Hjertson. 2009. Våra kulturväxters namn - ursprung och användning. Formas, Stockholm (Handbook on Swedish cultivated and utility plants, their names and origin).
• Blicher-Mathiesen, U. 1994. Borneo Illipe, a fat product from different Shorea spp. (Dipterocarpaceae). Econ. Bot. 48:236. [= Butyrospermum paradoxum (C. F. Gaertn.) Hepper].
• Duke, J. A. 1989. Handbook of Nuts. CRC Press. [= Butyrospermum paradoxum (C. F. Gaertn.) Hepper].
• Encke, F. et al. 1984. Zander: Handwörterbuch der Pflanzennamen, 13. Auflage.
• Erhardt, W. et al. 2008. Der große Zander: Enzyklopädie der Pflanzennamen.
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2010. Ecocrop (on-line resource).
• Govaerts, R. & D. G. Frodin. 2001. World checklist and bibliography of Sapotaceae.
• Greuter, W. et al., eds. 2000. International code of botanical nomenclature (Saint Louis Code). Art. 9.7, Ex. 2.
• Hall, J. B. & J. R. Hindle. 1995. Epitypification of Vitellaria paradoxa C. F. Gaertn. (Sapotaceae). Taxon 44:409–410. [epitypification].
• Keay, R. W. J. & F. N. Hepper. 1953–1972. Flora of west tropical Africa, ed. 2. [= Butyrospermum paradoxum (C. F. Gaertn.) Hepper].
• Keay, R. W. J. 1989. Trees of Nigeria.
• Markle, G. M. et al., eds. 1998. Food and feed crops of the United States, ed. 2.
• Pennington, T. D. 1991. The genera of the Sapotaceae.
• Prescott-Allen, R. & C. Prescott-Allen. 1990. How many plants feed the world? Conservation Biol. 4:365–374. [mentions].
• Rehm, S. 1994. Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants.
• Turrill, W. B. et al., eds. 1952–. Flora of tropical East Africa. [= Butyrospermum paradoxum (C. F. Gaertn.) Hepper].
• Webster's third new international dictionary. [= Butyrospermum parkii].

More:

Search AGRICOLA article citation database for citations referencing Vitellaria paradoxa.

Search NCBI's Entrez search engine for PubMed citations referencing Vitellaria paradoxa.

Search Biodiversity Heritage Library for historical publications referencing Vitellaria paradoxa.

Synonyms:

• (=) Bassia parkii G. Don
  
• (≡) Butyrospermum paradoxum (C. F. Gaertn.) Hepper
  
• (=) Butyrospermum paradoxum subsp. parkii (G. Don) Hepper
  
• (=) Butyrospermum parkii (G. Don) Kotschy
  (previously associated with 4 accessions)

Check other web resources for Vitellaria paradoxa C. F. Gaertn.:

• Mansfeld: Mansfeld's World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops
• PROTABASE: Plant Resources of Tropical Africa's (PROTA's) online resource
• ePIC: Electronic Plant Information Centre of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
• AGRICOLA: Article Citation Database or NAL Catalog of USDA's National Agricultural Library
• Entrez: NCBI's search engine for PubMed citations, GenBank sequences, etc.

Check other web resources for images:

• PlantSystematics.org
• Note: Be advised that their identity may be inaccurate. Proper identification of a plant may require specialized taxonomic knowledge or comparison with properly documented herbarium material.

Abbreviations & symbols in GRIN Taxonomy

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