Litchi chinensis

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Tree from China with compound leaves, cream- colored flowers, and rough-textured, green to red fruits (produced in may and June). The smooth , white pulp of the fruit has a grape-like consistency and is highly prized when fresh or canned in syrup. The dried fruits, "litchi nuts," are sweeter and more like raisins.

Note the small whitish flowers. The part of the fruit that is eaten is the whitish pulp. The pulpy part is technically an aril, or outgrowth from the funiculus or seed stalk . Seeds in this family are commonly arillate .

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Family Sapindaceae

Trees or shrubs (or woody vines with tendrils in Cardiospermum and allied genera), rarely herbaceous climbers . Indumentum usually of simple hairs , often glandular on young parts, buds, and inflorescences. Leaves alternate, usually estipulate; leaf blade pinnate or digitate, rarely simple; leaflets alternate to opposite, entire or dentate to serrate. Inflorescence a terminal or axillary thyrse ; bracts and bracteoles small. Flowers unisexual , rarely polygamous or bisexual , actinomorphic or zygomorphic, usually small. Sepals 4 or 5(or 6), equal or unequal, free or connate at base , imbricate or valvate . Petals 4 or 5(or 6), sometimes absent, free, imbricate, usually clawed, often with scales or hair-tufted basal appendages . Disk conspicuous , fleshy , complete or interrupted , lobed or annular , rarely absent. Stamens 5-10(-74), usually 8, rarely numerous , variously inserted but usually within disk, often exserted in male flowers; filaments free, rarely connate; anthers dorsifixed , longitudinally dehiscent , introrse ; staminodes sometimes present in carpellate flowers, but filaments shorter and anthers with a thick wall, indehiscent. Ovary superior, (1-) 3(or 4) -loculed; ovules 1 or 2(or several) per locule, placentation axile , rarely parietal , anatropous , campylotropous, or amphitropous ; style usually apical (terminal), semigynobasic in Allophylus [gynobasic in Deinbollia Schumacher & Thonning]; stigma entire or 2 or 3(or 4) -lobed, usually rudimentary in male flowers. Fruit a loculicidal capsule, berry, or drupe, or consisting of 2 or 3 samaras, often 1-seeded and 1-loculed by abortion . Seeds 1(or 2 or more) per locule; testa black or brown, hard, often with a conspicuous fleshy aril or sarcotesta ; embryo curved , plicate , or twisted, oily and starchy; endosperm usually absent. 2n = 20-36.

One hundred thirty-five genera and ca. 1500 species: widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions, especially well represented in tropical SE Asia; 21 genera (one endemic) and 52 species (16 endemic, one introduced ) in China.

There is some variation in the circumscription of Sapindaceae in taxonomic treatments, particularly with regard to the inclusion of genera from the closely related, predominately temperate families Aceraceae and Hippocastanaceae. Several studies including Müller and Leenhouts (in Ferguson & Müller, Evolutionary Significance Exine: 407-445. 1976), and more recently those based on molecular data (Stevens, Angiosperm Phylogeny Website, 2001 onward; Harrington et al. , Syst. Bot. 30: 366-382. 2005), supported the recognition of a broadly defined Sapindaceae incorporating Aceraceae and Hippocastanaceae. Harrington et al. (loc. cit. ) proposed four subfamilies or clades, comprising Sapindoideae (including

Koelreuteria and Ungnadia Endlicher), Dodonaeoideae, Hippocastanoideae (including taxa previously referred to Aceraceae and Hippocastanaceae, plus Handeliodendron), and a monotypic "Xanthoceratoideae". Within Hippocastanoideae, Acer Linnaeus and Dipteronia Oliver comprise a monophyletic group and are treated in this Flora as Aceraceae. Similarly, Aesculus Linnaeus, Billia Peyritsch, and the Chinese endemic Handeliodendron Rehder form a monophyletic group and are treated here as Hippocastanaceae. There is some support for "Xanthoceratoideae" being the first lineage to diverge within the broadly defined Sapindaceae assemblage; consequently, Xanthoceras is treated separately from genera in Sapindoideae and Dodonaeoideae in the following account of Sapindaceae s.s. The sequence of genera reflects Müller and Leenhouts (loc. cit.) as modified by recent analyses based on molecular and morphological data, rather than following the order developed by Radlkofer (Sitzungsber. Math.-Phys. Cl. Königl. Bayer. Akad. Wiss. München 20: 105-379. 1890; and in Engler, Pflanzenreich 98a-h(IV . 165) : 1-1539. 1931-1934), which was previously followed in FRPS.

The main economic uses of this family include (1) timber: Amesiodendron chinense, Dimocarpus longan, D. confinis, Litchi chinensis, Pavieasia kwangsiensis, and Pometia pinnata; (2) fruit: Dimocarpus longan, Litchi chinensis, and Nephelium lappaceum; (3) medicine: Dimocarpus longan (arillode ), Litchi chinensis (seeds), and Sapindus saponaria (roots ) ; (4) oil : Amesiodendron chinense, Delavaya toxocarpa, and Xanthoceras sorbifolium. Saponins occur widely in the family, commonly used as a fish poison and for their detergent properties.[1]

Genus Litchi

Trees , monoecious. Leaves paripinnate , alternate, estipulate. Thyrses terminal , golden tomentose ; bracts and bracteoles small. Flowers unisexual , actinomorphic . Calyx cupular, 4- or 5-lobed, valvate , opening early. Petals absent. Disk acetabuliform , entire. Stamens (male flowers) 6-8, exserted; filaments filiform , pilose . Ovary (female flowers) shortly stalked , obcordiform, 2(or 3) -lobed, 2(or 3) -loculed; ovules 1 per locule; style inserted between ovary lobes; stigma 2- or 3-lobed. Fruit deeply parted into 2 or 3 schizocarps, usually only 1 or 2 developed, ovoid or subglobose; pericarp leathery (crustaceous when dry), abaxially with tortoise-shell-like fissure , with scattered conical prominents , sometimes nearly smooth . Seeds nearly same shape as schizocarps; testa brown, nitid , leathery, arillode fleshy , wrapping all or lower half of seed; embryo erect . 2n = 28, 30.

One species: SE Asia; widely cultivated in subtropical regions.[2]

Physical Description

Biology

Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Culture: Space 15-20' apart.

Soil: Minimum pH: 5.6 • Maximum pH: 6.5

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 9b, 10a, 10b, 11. (map)

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Dimocarpus lichi Loureiro • Litchi chinensis var. euspontanea H. H. Hsue • N. lit-chi Cambessèdes • Nephelium chinense (Sonnerat) Druce • Nephelium litchi Cambess. • Scytalia chinensis (Sonnerat) Gaertner.

Notes

Publishing author : Sonn. Publication : Voy. Ind. iii. 255 (1782)

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Similar Species

Members of the genus Litchi

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 9 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

L. chinensis (Lichee) · L. chinensis chinensis (Lychee) · L. chinensis javensis (Lychee) · L. chinensis 'Brewster' (Lychee) · L. chinensis 'Emperor' (Lychee) · L. chinensis 'Hak Ip' (Lychee) · L. chinensis 'Kwai Mai Pink' (Lychee) · L. chinensis 'Mauritius' (Lychee) · L. chinensis 'Sweet Cliff' (Lychee)

More Info

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Further Reading

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• Amino acid pools: distribution, formation and function of free amino acids; proceedings. Edited by Joseph T. Holden. Sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, Washington, D.C., under the auspices of the Institute for A[d]vanced Learning in the Medical Sciences. Amsterdam, Elsevier Pub. Co.1962. url p. 44, p. 798, p. 799.
• An enumeration of Philippine flowering plants, Manila, Bureau of Printing, 1922-26. url p. 504.
• Annual reports of the Department of Agriculture. .. Washington: G.P.O., [1894?]-1924. url p. 150.
• Botanical Museum leaflets, Harvard University. 25 1976-1977 Cambridge, Mass.: Botanical Museum, Harvard University, 1932- url p. 174.
• Botanical abstracts. Baltimore, Williams & Wilkins Co. url p. 150, p. 351.
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• Bulletin. Bureau of Plant Industry. U. S. Department of Agriculture. 1901-13. WashingtonGovt. Print. Off. url , p. 44, p. 46, p. 59.
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Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 12, 2012.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 14, 2007:

• Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Bishop Museum Natural History Specimen Data
• Comisión nacional para el conocimiento y uso de la biodiversidad, Banco Nacional de Germoplasma Vegetal, México
• Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad
• , Biodiversidad de Costa Rica
• Missouri Botanical Garden, Missouri Botanical Garden

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2667894
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-503504
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13760123
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:783539-1
• GRIN Nomen Number: 22399
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 503504
• International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 783539-1
• Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: PDSPN0Q010
• U.S.D.A. Plant Symbol: NELI3
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 47385

Footnotes

1. Nianhe Xia & Paul A. Gadek "Sapindaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 12 Page 1, 6. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
2. "Litchi". in Flora of China Vol. 12 Page 6, 16. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]

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