292 Fruits and Fruit-Trees. 



point of view, no other fruit being so exactly interme- 

 diate between the productions of tropical countries and 

 temperate ones. Long since brought to England, the 

 date-palm may often be seen in conservatories where 

 space can be afforded, but it is seldom more than a tuft 

 of huge leaves. 



THE LITCHI OR LYCHEE (Nephelium Litchi). 



LITCHIS are those curious fruits of the better-class 

 shops which in figure and dimensions remind one of 

 the strawberry, only that they are brown, dry, rather more 

 heart-shaped, and covered with wart-like protuberances. 

 Lightly squeezed between the fingers, they are found to 

 consist of a very thin and brittle shell, enclosing a mass 

 of prune-like black sweetmeat, with a large brown stone 

 inside of all. Two often grow side by side ; stalk they 

 have scarcely any; the shell has often been driven 

 in more or less during conveyance from their native 

 country. In the dried state, or as we have them in Eng- 

 land, litchis, it must be confessed, offer very little to eat, 

 and the great stone adds still further to the deceitfulness 

 of the external promise. But when fresh from the bough 

 it is scarcely possible to imagine a fruit more delicious. 

 The rind is then of a glowing red colour, and the entire 

 cavity is filled with a sweet, white, and perfumed pulp, 

 the aroma of which remains, and constitutes the recom- 

 mendation of the litchi as an article of dessert. 



