Litchi Chinensis — “Lichee.”
This tree, with its dense foliage, is a native of Southern China. The first tree of this variety was brought to Hawaii by Mr. Afong, and planted at his residence in Nuuanu avenue, Honolulu, in the year 1870.
The leaves are alternate, and abruptly pinnate; the oblong leaflets are not quite opposite. Flowers pale green, small and regular, producing bunches of reddish-colored fruits, each about the size of a small walnut. They are covered with a parchment-like skin having many soft spines. The interior consists of a large seed covered with a whitish pulp of a sweetish acid flavor; this pulp when dried in the shell becomes somewhat shriveled, brownish in color, and very sweet.
The fruiting season is in July, and as there are but few trees here that bear, high prices are obtained for this rare fruit, which is much prized by the Chinese. Fresh seeds will germinate, but it requires so many years for these seedlings to bear that grafted and budded plants are imported from China.