- Family:
- Sapotaceae Juss.
- Genus:
- Vitellaria C.F.Gaertn.
Vitellaria paradoxa C.F.Gaertn.

[FTEA]
Sapotaceae, J. H. Hemsley. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1968
- Morphology General Habit
- Tree with stout bole and much-branched spreading crown, height up to 20 m.; bark usually grey or blackish, deeply fissured and splitting into squarish or rectangular corky scales.
- Morphology General Shoots
- Short-shoots with conspicuous cycad-like annular leaf-base scars.
- Morphology General Indumentum
- Young shoots, petioles and flower-buds with ferrugineous pubescence of varying density.
- Morphology Leaves Petiole
- Petioles long, one-third to half length of leaf-lamina.
- Morphology Leaves
- Leaf-lamina oblong to ovate-oblong, 10–25 cm. long, 4.5–14 cm. wide, rounded at apex, base acute to broadly cuneate, margin thickened and undulate; upper and lower surfaces of mature leaf glabrescent or puberulous; lateral nerves 20–30 each side, regularly and closely spaced, slightly arcuate.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
- Flowers fragrant.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Pedicel
- Pedicels up to 3 cm. long, puberulous to densely pubescent.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
- Outer sepals lanceolate, 9–14 mm. long, 3.5–6 mm. wide, pubescent to ± floccose externally; inner sepals slightly smaller.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
- Corolla cream; tube 2.5–4 mm. long, glabrous or pilose externally; lobes broadly ovate, 7–11 mm. long, 4.5–7 mm. wide.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens
- Filaments 7–12 mm. long; anthers ± lanceolate, up to 4.5 mm. long.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Staminodes
- Staminodes up to 8 mm. long.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Style
- Style 8–15 mm. long.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
- Mature fruit greenish, up to 6.5 cm. long and 4.5 cm. in diameter, subglabrous or with pubescence persisting in small patches, containing a sweet pulp surrounding the seed.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
- Seed up to 5 cm. long, 3.5 cm. in diameter.
- Figures
- Fig. 10.
Native to:
Benin, Burkina, Cameroon, Central African Repu, Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, Zaïre
Vitellaria paradoxa C.F.Gaertn. appears in other Kew resources:
Date | Reference | Identified As | Barcode | Type Status | Has image? |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jan 1, 2004 | Etuge, M. [4753], Cameroon | K000746037 | No | ||
Jan 1, 1998 | Leeuwenberg, A.J.M. [4387], Burkina Faso | K000391978 | No | ||
Jan 1, 1998 | Barter [721], Niger | K000435336 | Yes | ||
Jan 1, 1998 | Barter [1178], Niger | K000435335 | Yes | ||
Raynal-Roques, A. [22356], Mali | K000391981 | No | |||
Leewenberg [4418] | Butyrospermum paradoxum | 59909.000 | No | ||
s.coll. [s.n.], Burkina Faso | Butyrospermum paradoxum | K000391980 | No |
First published in Suppl. Carp.: 131 (1807)
Accepted by
- Akoègninou, A., van der Burg, W.J. & van der Maesen, L.J.G. (eds.) (2006). Flore Analytique du Bénin: 1-1034. Backhuys Publishers.
- Barry, J. P. & Celles, J.S. (1991). Flore de Mauritanie 1: 1-359. Centre Regional de Documentation Pedagogique, Nice.
- Boudet, G., Lebrun, J.P. & Demange, R. (1986). Catalogue des plantes vasculaires du Mali: 1-465. Etudes d'Elevage et de Médecine Vétérinaire des Pays Tropicaux.
- Brunel, J.F., Hiepo, P. & Scholz, H. (eds.) (1984). Flore Analytique du Togo Phanérogames: 1-751. GTZ, Eschborn.
- Darbyshire, I., Kordofani, M., Farag, I., Candiga, R. & Pickering, H. (eds.) (2015). The Plants of Sudan and South Sudan: 1-400. Kew publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
- Govaerts, R., Frodin, D.G. & Pennington, D. (2001 publ. 2002). World Checklist and Bibliography of Sapotaceae: 1-364. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
- Lebrun, J.-P., Audru, J., Gaston, A. & Mosnier, M. (1972). Catalogue des Plantes Vasculaires du Tchad Méridional: 1-289. Institut d' Elevage et de Médecine Vétérinaire des Pays Tropicaux, Maisons Alfort.
Literature
Kew Backbone Distributions
- Akoègninou, A., van der Burg, W.J. & van der Maesen, L.J.G. (eds.) (2006). Flore Analytique du Bénin: 1-1034. Backhuys Publishers.
- Barry, J. P. & Celles, J.S. (1991). Flore de Mauritanie 1: 1-359. Centre Regional de Documentation Pedagogique, Nice.
- Brunel, J.F., Hiepo, P. & Scholz, H. (eds.) (1984). Flore Analytique du Togo Phanérogames: 1-751. GTZ, Eschborn.
- Lebrun, J.-P., Audru, J., Gaston, A. & Mosnier, M. (1972). Catalogue des Plantes Vasculaires du Tchad Méridional: 1-289. Institut d' Elevage et de Médecine Vétérinaire des Pays Tropicaux, Maisons Alfort.
- Lebrun, J.P., Toutain, B., Gaston, A. & Boudet, G. (1991). Catalogue des Plantes Vasculaires du Burkina Faso: 1-341. Institut d' Elevage et de Médecine Vétérinaire des Pays Tropicaux, Maisons Alfort.
- Lisowski, S. (2009). Flore (Angiospermes) de la République de Guinée Scripta Botanica Belgica 41: 1-517.
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Flora of Tropical East Africa
Flora of Tropical East Africa
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Herbarium Catalogue Specimens
Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
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Kew Backbone Distributions
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2022. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
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Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2022. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0