Facts about Lychees
Lychee is the sole member of the genus Litchi in the soapberry family. A major early Chinese historical reference to lychees was made in the Tang Dynasty, when it was the favourite fruit of Emperor Li Longji (Xuanzong)'s favoured concubine Yang Yuhuan (Yang Guifei). The emperor had the fruit, which was only grown in southern China, delivered by the imperial messenger service's fast horses, whose riders would take shifts day and night in a Pony Express-like manner, to the capital. Lychee was introduced to the Réunion Island in 1764 by Joseph-François Charpentier de Cossigny de Palma. The first lychee in space was launched aboard the Bigelow Aerospace spacecraft Genesis II on June 28, 2007 as part of the private aerospace firm's "Fly Your Stuff" program. Guy Pignolet de Pluton, a professor at Université de la Réunion in Sainte-Rose, Réunion, provided the lychee. The lychee was first described in the West by Pierre Sonnerat (1748–1814) on a return from his travel to China and Southeast Asia. The fruit matures from July to October, about 100 days after flowering. Lychee is rich in vitamin C. It has a single glossy brown nut-like seed, 2 cm long and 1–1.5 cm in diameter. It is native to southern China. According to folklore, a lychee tree that is not producing much fruit can be girdled, leading to more fruit production. They require a warm subtropical to tropical climate that is cool but also frost-free or with only very slight winter frosts not below -4°C, and with high summer heat, rainfall, and humidity. The Lychee plantation is commonly found in Madagascar, China, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, southern Taiwan, northern Vietnam, Indonesia, South Africa, the Philippines, and Thailand. The Lychee tree is a medium-sized evergreen tree, reaching 15–20 m tall. |
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