Lychee

For Yang Guifei, beloved of Emperor Xuanzong, lychees from the south were rushed to the capital by relays of mounted couriers so they would not spoil.

An evergreen tree growing 10–15 m tall, with a dense, domed crown and leathery, glossy, evenly pinnate leaves. In spring it produces panicles of tiny greenish-yellow flowers, and in summer bunches of round fruits in red, rough skin ripen. The edible part is the white, juicy, translucent aril with a sweet, floral aroma, surrounding a glossy brown seed. The fruit quickly loses its freshness, so for centuries it has been dried and preserved, and the trees can bear fruit for hundreds of years.

Significance in the country

Lychees have been grown in southern China for more than two thousand years and are among the country’s most prized fruits – the poet Su Shi wrote in exile in Huizhou that, eating three hundred lychees a day, he would gladly stay in the south for ever. China is the world’s largest lychee producer.

Where it grows

Grown in the subtropical provinces of the south – above all in Guangdong (including around Maoming and Guangzhou), Guangxi, Hainan and Fujian; smaller orchards are found in Yunnan, southern Sichuan and Chongqing.

According to the World Checklist of Vascular Plants (Kew), the species is native to this country. Source and licence

More: Wikipedia (en) Wikipedia (pl) Plants of the World Online (Kew)