Litchi chinensis subsp. chinensis
Content
Description
Tree, up to 35 m high, dbh up to 1 m.
Branchlets 2.5-3.5 mm in diam., greyish brown, when young with appressed, short, 2-branched, brown hairs, early glabrescent.
Leaves 2-4-, exceptionally 5-jugate;
Inflorescences 15-30 cm long with few long erec-to-patent branches, these sparsely branched mainly in their upper half;
Stamens 6(-10);
Ovary 2 by 5 mm;
Fruits c. 3.5 by 3 cm, bright red to purplish when ripe, nearly smooth or scaly to densely set with up to 1 mm high, flat, pyramidal, acute warts.
Distribution
Asia-Tropical: Borneo present; Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia present ‒ cultivated); Philippines (Philippines cultivated ‒ present), SE China, northern part of the Indo-Chinese Peninsula, sub-tropical regions cultivated
Probably originating from the northern part of the Indo-Chinese Peninsula or from SE China, now widely cultivated mainly in sub-tropical regions; in Malesia possibly indigenous in the Malay Peninsula, Borneo and the Philippines, rarely cultivated (Malay Peninsula, Philippines), exceptionally naturalized and apparently hardly ever fruiting.
Uses
Cultivated for its fruits (Litchi, Lychee), mainly in SE China, Florida, Hawaii, and South Africa from where they are exported, fresh, dried, or canned, to other parts of the world. The wood is also highly prized, reported to be hard, durable, and taking a fine polish (for a description of the timber see p. 428). See .
Notes
The many races of cultivated lychee are arranged into two groups, the 'water lychee' and the 'mountain lychee'. The former contains most (and the best) varieties, is cultivated in the lowlands, and has mostly nearly smooth fruits. The 'mountain lychee' is mainly used as a stock; it is grown in hilly regions, and has smaller and more prickly fruits. The latter may come nearer to the original wild form.