ABSTRACT
The litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) belongs to the family Sapindaceae and is indigenous to southern China. It was described as early as 1059 A.D. by Tsai Hsiang, and has been cultivated for its delicious fruit ever since. The first detailed description of the litchi, including the botanical name, was published by Pierre Sonnerat in 1782, in his book Voyage aux Indes Orientales et a la Chine. The genus name Litchi is a romanization of the Chinese name for the fruit, which is written with two Chinese characters pronounced as “lay” and “chee”, meaning “to separate the fruit from the branches with knives.” 1
