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Litchi chinensis
Also called Litchi, Lichee, Leechee
1 NParks heritage tree in Singapore: Found in Mount Rosie Road, opposite House No. 11J
Lychee is a subtropical to tropical evergreen fruit tree, the only species in its genus, grown for its sweet, floral-scented fruit. It needs a frost-free climate with warm summers, humidity and well-drained, slightly acidic soil.
Lychees ( LIE-chee, US also LEE-chee) are the fruit of the tree Litchi chinensis, the sole member of the genus Litchi, part of the soapberry family, Sapindaceae. They are edible, with a sweet, mildly tart flavor, and have a distinctive floral aroma often described as rose-like.
There are three distinct subspecies of lychee. The most common is the Indochinese lychee, found in South China, Malaysia, and northern Vietnam. The other two are the Philippine lychee (locally called alupag or matamata), found only in the Philippines, and the Javanese lychee, cultivated in Indonesia and Malaysia. The tree has been introduced throughout Southeast and South Asia. Cultivation in China has been documented since the 11th century. China is the main producer of lychees, followed by India, Vietnam, other countries in Southeast Asia, other countries in South Asia, Madagascar, and South Africa.
Lychees are extensively grown in southern China, Taiwan, Vietnam, the rest of tropical Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and in tropical regions of many other countries. They require a tropical climate that is frost-free and does not go below the temperature of −4 °C (25 °F), with high summer heat, rainfall, and humidity, growing optimally on well-drained, slightly acidic soils rich in organic matter and mulch.
Some 200 cultivars exist, with early and late maturing forms suited to warmer and cooler climates, respectively. In China eight cultivars are mainly used for commerce. Lychees are also grown as an ornamental tree. The most common propagation method for lychee is through air layering. Air-layers are made by cutting a branch of a mature tree, covering the cut with a rooting medium, such as peat or sphagnum moss, then wrapping the medium with polyethylene film and allowing the cut to root. Once significant rooting has occurred, the layer is cut from the branch and potted.
In 1962 it was found that lychee seeds contain methylenecyclopropylglycine (MCPG), a homologue of hypoglycin A, which causes hypoglycemia in human and animal studies.
Since the end of the 1990s, unexplained outbreaks of encephalopathy has been documented, appearing to affect only children in India (where it is called chamki bukhar) and northern Vietnam (where it is called Ac Mong encephalitis after the Vietnamese word for nightmare, ác mộng) during the lychee harvest season from May to June or July.
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Lychee by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
