Longan is named after its round black luster and white umbilical protuberance, which resembles the eyes of the legendary "dragon". The ancients compared longan, a round fruit, to various eyes. The big longan is called longan, the middle one is called tiger eye, and the smallest one is called ghost eye, but modern people call longan or longan.
Longan originated in the south of China, and its cultivation history can be traced back to the Han Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago. The Northern Wei Dynasty (386 ~ 534) said in Qi Yao Min Shu: "Longan is a mystery and a comparison." Because it matures in the season when osmanthus trees are fragrant, it is commonly known as longan. It was listed as an important tribute in ancient times. Wei Wendi (535 ~ 55 1) once wrote to his ministers: "The rare fruits in the south are longan and litchi, which make the year old."
Longan was widely planted in Quanzhou in Song Dynasty. Su Song, a native of Tongan County, quanzhou county in the Northern Song Dynasty, recorded in Compendium of Materia Medica (106 1): "Longan was born in the valley of the South China Sea, and litchi is distributed in Fujian, Guangzhou and Sichuan today.
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The origin of the name
It is said that a long time ago, there was a dragon in Fujian. Every August, when the tide comes, it sets off waves, destroys crops, destroys houses and kills countless people and animals. People around had to flee their homes and hide in caves.
There is a local boy with strong martial arts, named longan. When he saw the dragon making waves, he was determined to kill the people and fight the dragon. In August, the tide came, and he prepared good wine and pork and mutton and put them together. When the dragon came ashore, he saw the pork and mutton drooling and ate them up in a few mouthfuls.
Because pork and mutton were soaked in a lot of wine, they lay motionless on the ground before the dragon went away. Just then, longan raised a steel knife and stabbed the dragon's left eye. Longan was poked out and the dragon rolled back and forth in pain. When he was about to escape, longan caught the dragon horn and rode on it.
When the dragon tried to get rid of longan, longan stabbed the dragon's right eye with a steel knife. The dragon lost his eyes and screamed in pain. After a fight, the dragon bled to death. Longan died because he was seriously injured in the fight. As a result, this place has grown a kind of fruit called "longan" or "longan".
References:
Baidu encyclopedia-longan