INTRODUCTION 1 I 



The botany of the lychee and lungan reveals the fact that we 

 can look with promise to regions remote from those of native habitat 

 for stocks upon which to work these interesting fruits. In particular 

 the wild lychee of the Philippines, Litchi philippincnsis Radlk. , 

 offers great promise of being found useful as a stock, since it is the 

 species most closely related to the cultivated lychee and since it has 

 peculiarities of advantage as a stock. The lungan also has an allied 

 Philippine species, Euphoria cincrca Radlk., which might be useful 

 in lungan culture. J. E. Higgins 1 has clearly shown that "there is 

 no difficulty in securing a union of the litchi with the lungan.' 

 Chinese also report that there are lychee trees growing upon the 

 lungan roots but its practicability is very questionable as specimens are 

 rare. Jt is apparent that there is an open field for a series of interest- 

 ing and helpful experiments in the propagation and hybridization of 

 these attractive fruits. Such experiments should prove of great value 

 to China and to other countries attempting to introduce the lychee 

 and lungan under conditions not so favorable as in their native habitat. 

 Drought and frost resistance are two factors to be kept definitely in 

 mind in this work; and soil variations should be carefully studied. 



The inhabitants of the South China region, the home of the 

 lychee and the lungan, should take great pride in these two native 

 fruits. Of the six provinces which geographically comprise South 

 China, only two, Kvvangtung (jg )f{) and Fukien (jjjjj $|), grow the 

 fruits extensively. Szechwan (3 JlJ ) to the northwest, and not in- 

 cluded among the provinces of this region, produces some lychee 

 and lungan. These fruits are known to grow as far south as Siam. 

 But Kvvangtung and Fukien are the two great lychee-lungan provinces 

 and their history interestingly discloses that for centuries they have 

 striven with one another for supremacy in culture and export trade. 

 The Ling Nan ($& j?f ) and Hsing Hwa (*& ft) regions of Kvvang- 

 tung and Fukien respectively, are the centers of the lychee and 

 lungan industry of China. Fukien can rightly claim priority in the 

 literature of the lychee through Ts'ai Hsiang's treatise, 2 now eight 

 hundred and sixty years old. In the early part of the eighteenth 

 century Wu Ying K'uei (^JKSil) matched this work by the publication 

 of his treatise 2 on the most famous product of the Canton region, 

 the Ling Nan lichee. 



1 HlGGlKS, j. E., T& Lit chiin Hawaii^ Hawaii, Agricultural Expcrimmt 

 Station, Bulletin No. 44, page 1 1 . 



2 Sff footnotes I .uul 2, p;i^e 7. 



