Scientific name Dimocarpus confinis (How et Ho) H.S. Lo

Synonym (Syn.) Dimocarpus fumatus (Bl.) Leenh.Pseudonephelium confine How et Ho

English name Confined dimocarpus

A plant of the Sapindaceae family, the taxonomic status of which has yet to be determined. However, according to peroxidase isoenzyme analysis, its spectral band has the basic spectral band of litchi and longan, and it may be a natural hybrid of litchi and longan. Guangxi has nearly 1,000 years of cultivation history, now the southern and northern mountains and forests still have wild distribution, in Beiliu, Yulin, Bama, Longlin and other places occasionally cultivated.

Long Lai is an evergreen tree, the plant is shorter than lychee and longan, with a moderate potential, sparse and thick branches, and the wood is brittle and easy to break. The main trunk skin like lychee but rougher than lychee, trunk and old branch skin gray-brown, shoots, new shoots yellow-green. Leaves are pinnately compound, with 3 to 5 pairs of leaflets, and the leaf blade is much longer and larger than that of longan, with obvious veins. Flowering spikes are stout and large, the florets are larger, very similar to longan, but the anthers are red; the buds and spikes appear in February to March, and the flowers bloom in April. Fruit suborbicular, smaller than lychee, similar to longan, pericarp resembles lychee, with cusps and cracks, sutures obvious. Seed shape similar to longan and slightly larger. The fruit ripens in mid to late June (Figure 4-43). Long Lai can grow throughout the year, no obvious dormant period, the annual pumping of new shoots 2 to 4 times, the spring shoots in February to March, the summer shoots in May to June, July to October to draw the autumn shoots. Long Lai fruit flesh flavor like longan, taste sweet texture crisp, soluble solids to 17% to 18%, containing 0.1% acid. Because of its plant, flowers, fruit morphology between litchi and longan, and thus have "Dragon Lai" name. Long Lai is more cold-resistant than litchi and longan, and has strong adaptability and resistance to adversity, which is of some significance in breeding and scientific research, and is a resource worthy of further study and utilization.

Figure 4-43 Long Li

1. leaf 2. inflorescence 3. flower 4. fruit

(Liu Yeqiang)