Product Description

Shea Butter is a natural plant extract with exceptional moisturizing properties which comes from the karite or shea tree. The Shea tree, formerly Butryospermum paradoxum, is now called Vitellaria paradoxa.  It produces its first fruit (which resemble large plums) when it is about *0 years old and reaches its full production when the tree is about *5 years old. It produces nuts for up to **0 years after reaching maturity. Many vernacular names are used for Vitellaria, which is a reflection of its extensive range of occurrence nearly 5,**0km from Senegal (west) to Uganda (east) across the African Continent. The nomenclature history and synonymy of the Shea tree followed a very tortuous evolution since the oldest specimen was first collected by Mungo Park on May *6, ***7 before eventually arriving at the name vitellaria with subspecies paradoxa and nilotica. It usually grows to an average height of about *5m with profuse branches and a thick waxy and deeply fissured bark that makes it fire resistant. The Shea tree grows naturally in the wild in the dry Savannah belt of West Africa from Senegal in the west to Sudan in the east, and onto the foothills of the Ethiopian highlands, but is also one of the major natural resources  found in Nigeria.