Lychee
Litchi chinensis Sonn.
Lychee (Litchi chinensis) is a subtropical fruit tree whose red, bumpy fruit holds juicy, very aromatic white aril; Vietnamese “Thieu” lychee is famous from Thanh Ha and Luc Ngan.
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Lychee — PlantLychee — Whole tree
Lychee — Fruit & seeds
Lychee — Flowers
Lychee — Leaves
Lychee — Seeds & young plantsLychee — PlantLychee — Whole treeOverview
A tree 10–20 m tall with a dense round crown and grey bark. Leaves are pinnate with glossy lanceolate leaflets. Small greenish-yellow flowers form panicles; the round drupe has a bumpy red skin with tiny knobs, translucent white aril and one shiny brown seed.
Lychee likes a humid subtropical climate and needs a cool winter to induce flowering. The fruit is eaten fresh, dried or canned, and the flowers give fragrant honey. Note: eating many unripe lychees on an empty stomach can cause hypoglycaemia, especially in young children.
Life cycle
From seed to productSeed
Seeds lose viability fast; sown fresh in bags, they sprout in 1–3 weeks.
Sapling
Saplings are light-demanding; grafting or air-layering keeps good cultivars and speeds fruiting.
Flowering
After a cool winter, greenish-yellow panicles open and bees gather nectar.
Fruiting
Bumpy red fruits ripen in early summer and are picked promptly as they bruise easily.
Distribution & origin
Share of recorded occurrences by region- South China34%
- Vietnam20%
- India · South Asia18%
- Other Southeast Asia16%
- Madagascar · Mauritius12%
Chemical composition
Relative content in agarwood resin- Sugars (sucrose, glucose, fructose)Sweet aroma40%
- Vitamin CHigh in fresh fruit26%
- Polyphenols · flavonoidsAntioxidant20%
- Hypoglycin · othersIn unripe fruit, causes hypoglycaemia14%
Uses
- Fruit fresh, dried, canned
- Fragrant lychee honey
- Skin, seed and root in traditional medicine
Properties
- Leaf
- Pinnate, glossy
- Fruit
- Bumpy red skin, translucent aril
- Seed
- Shiny brown, single
Habitat & conservation
Native to South China; likes a humid subtropical climate with a cool, dry winter to induce flowering; deep, well-drained, slightly acid soil.
Conservation
Not globally threatened (IUCN: Least Concern). Widely grown in many countries; supply comes mainly from cultivation.
References
- 1Plants of the World Online — Litchi chinensis — Kew Science, 2024
- 2IUCN Red List — Litchi chinensis — IUCN, 2019
- 3Lychee (Litchi chinensis): a review — Fruit Trees, 2016
- 4Hình ảnh minh hoạ lấy từ Wikimedia Commons, tôn trọng giấy phép ghi kèm — Wikimedia Commons,
- 5Nguồn ảnh: J.M.Garg (CC BY-SA 3.0), Wikimedia Commons — Wikimedia Commons,
- 6Nguồn ảnh: B.navez (CC BY-SA 4.0), Wikimedia Commons — Wikimedia Commons,
- 7Nguồn ảnh: B.navez (CC BY-SA 3.0), Wikimedia Commons — Wikimedia Commons,
- 8Nguồn ảnh: This photo was taken by Dave Whitinger (CC BY-SA 3.0), Wikimedia Commons — Wikimedia Commons,
- 9Nguồn ảnh: DiverDave (CC BY-SA 4.0), Wikimedia Commons — Wikimedia Commons,