Lychee – Heong Lai

Plant family: Sapindaceae

Plant origin: Southern China.

Fruit description: The Heong Lai Lychee fruit hangs in clusters of up to 20 fruit. They are a small sweet fruit with the smallest seeds of all known Lychee varieties. When ripe the fruit has a bumpy dark-red thin shell-like skin which is easy to remove by hand. Each fruit is about 20-30mm in diameter. It contains a tiny shrivelled inedible seed. The white semi-transparent flesh is very sweet, very juicy and quite delicious. The aroma is sweet and very pleasant. The Heong Lai Lychee bears fruit every year.

Flowers: The flowers are small, white, green or yellow, produced in Spring in erect clusters with male and female flowers occurring together. They have a lovely perfume.

Growing conditions: The Heong Lai Lychee bears fruit every year, and is a very handsome, bushy evergreen tree. It can grow to a height of 6 metres. Lychees are moderately frost tolerant. They have long pointed glossy leaves, approximately 12cm long and 5cm wide. New leaf growth is a pretty pink. It makes an excellent shade or ornamental tree. It likes rich, moist, sandy loam, and a subtropical or tropical climate with warm humid summers and cool winters. Slightly acid soil is good but not necessary. Give lychees plenty of water and mulch in the warm months. Use slow release fertiliser not strong fertiliser. Pruning is not required. Protect the young tree from strong wind.

Uses: Eat the fruit fresh, or in fruit salad or added to a vegetable salad or juiced. Store the fruit in the refrigerator or for a couple of days at room temperature. Lychees can be frozen. Dried lychee with the skin on it is used in Chinese cooking. Lychees are rich in vitamin C.

Medicinal uses: In Chinese medicine, the Lychee is used for its warming properties.

Pollination requirements: Self-Pollinating.

Harvest time Pick the fruit when it is ripe as it doesn't ripen further after it is picked. Ripe Kwai Mai Pink Lychee fruit is pink and the skin is easy to open and remove.

Plant relatives The Lychee is related to the Longan and the Rambutan.

Special features:

Grown by method: Air Layer Marcott Pot size: 6 litre

Plant growing Height and Width for pots or in the ground planting: Grows to 2.5 metres high by 2 metres wide if Planted in a Pot. Grows 6 metres high by 4 metres wide if Planted in the Ground.

Shipping plant pot or planter bag size: 6 litre