The Origins of Shea Butter

The Shea tree is unique to Africa. At this writing there are no other places on the planet, but Africa were the Shea Trees grow. The Shea tree is a wild self propagating tree.

Shea trees can be found through the entire Sahel and Savannah regions of West Africa and extends to parts of Uganda and Ethiopia on the Eastern horn of Africa.

*The germination of the shea nut lasts about one month. In favourable environment, phyenological germination takes place within 7 – 10 days. Its growth is very slow and seedlings take 2 – 3 years to reach field planting. The juvenile stage of shea tree lasts very long, 15 – 20 years, hence the difficulty in its domestication. Flowering starts at about the age of 20 years and production reaches maturity at the age of 40 – 50 years. The shea tree can live for more than 200 years.

Source: Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research