Lychee Origin and Varieties

Lychee is a fruit grown in the south. Even the noble Yang Guifei loved to eat it, so there is a variety called Feizishao.

litchi

Originated from China, it is a good fruit in Lingnan, my country, and people call it the "king of fruits". The word "litchi" comes from the Western Han Dynasty, and cultivation began in the Qin and Han Dynasties and flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties. The ancient name "lizhi" means to eat it immediately after it leaves the branch. The history of litchi cultivation can be traced back to the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and Sima Xiangru's "Shanglin Fu" has already recorded it. Because of its excellent flavor, it is deeply loved and has been listed as a tribute in the Tang Dynasty or earlier. Su Dongpo's famous line "I eat 300 litchis a day, and I am willing to be a Lingnan person forever" is still chanted today.

The lychee tree is a subtropical fruit tree, an evergreen tree that can reach 20 meters in height, with even-pinnate compound leaves, panicle inflorescence, small flowers without petals, green-white or light yellow, and fragrant. The lychee fruit is round, with many scaly protrusions on the peel, bright red or purple. The fresh lychee flesh is translucent and creamy. The lychee is sweet and juicy. Not only that, the lychee also has medicinal effects. According to the Compendium of Materia Medica, lychees can "quench thirst, improve people's complexion..., soothe the spirit, improve intelligence, strengthen qi (nourish the brain and build the body), treat scrofula, tumors..." and other diseases.

Litchi was introduced to India around the 10th century, and to many countries including Vietnam, the Malay Peninsula, and Myanmar in the 17th century. In recent years, it has been introduced to South America and other places, and has won favor from all over the world.

Lychee Origin

The largest litchi production areas in my country are Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Taiwan, Hainan and other provinces; followed by Yunnan and Sichuan; Zhejiang and Guizhou only have a small amount of cultivation.

Maoming area in Guangdong Province is the largest fruit production base in the country and the largest lychee production base in the world. The city's fruit planting area is more than 4.3 million mu, of which lychee area is 1.7657 million mu, more than twice the lychee area of ​​India (843,000 mu), the world's second largest lychee producer, and approximately equal to the total lychee area of ​​all countries in the world except China. The annual total lychee output accounts for 25% of the country and 20% of the world.

Maoming has a history of planting lychees for more than 2,000 years. In the Tang Dynasty, Maoming lychees had become tribute to the imperial court. There is an old lychee garden called Gongyuan in Baiqiao Village, Genzi Town, Gaozhou. The lychees presented to Yang Guifei in the Tang Dynasty came from this garden.

Lychee growing environment

Litchi likes light and requires long daylight. The most suitable temperature for growth is 23-26℃. When the daily average temperature reaches above 17℃, new leaves begin to stretch. When it is below 10℃, growth basically stops. Frost damage occurs at -4℃. When the temperature is below 8℃ during the flowering period, the anthers do not crack. However, in January, the key season for flower bud differentiation, a low temperature of 15℃ or above zero is required. Generally, more water is needed during the growth and fruiting period. Acidic (～6) sandy loam with a deep soil layer, good drainage, and rich in organic matter is suitable.

Lychee Varieties

There are more than 200 varieties of lychees in the world, including some varieties with the same name. In addition, there are rich germplasm resources in lychee producing areas that use seed propagation. After preliminary sorting, there are more than 140 varieties and strains of lychees in my country. Among them, there are more than 70 varieties and strains in Guangdong, and nearly 27 varieties are commercially produced, including Nuomici, Guiwei, Huaizhi, Sanyuehong, Baitangying, Baila, Xijiaozi, Feizixiao, Heiye, Zhuangyuanhong, Juheli, Qingpitian, Zengcheng Gualv, Xuehuaizi, Jianjianghongnuo and Guahong.

Osmanthus flavor: The fruit is spherical, medium-sized, light red, with a thin and crisp shell. The cracks on the skin are sharp and prickly, and it has the fragrance of osmanthus.

Glutinous Rice Ci: The fruit is flat heart-shaped, large in size, bright red in color, with a smooth surface, a prominent bulge on one side of the shoulder, thick flesh and a small core.

Fei Zi Xiao: The fruit is relatively large, with an average single fruit weight of 30 grams, and the flesh is tender and juicy.

Black Leaf: The fruit is oval or crooked heart-shaped, medium in size, dark red in color, with a thin shell. The surface cracks are flat and blunt, uniform in size, and regularly arranged. The cracks and sutures are obvious, and the core is relatively large.

White wax: The fruit is heart-shaped, medium in size, with a pale red and yellow waxy skin, thick and brittle, smooth cracks, soft and smooth flesh, sweet and juicy.