112 THE LYOHEE AND LUNGAN 



In October, 1911, a photograph was received by the Office 

 of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture from J. Jones, Curator of Botanic Station in 

 Dominico, showing a fruiting branch of the lychee. 



Higgins 1 is authority for the statement that the lychee was 

 first introduced into Hawaii in 1873 by Mr. Ching Check and since 

 that time there have been other introductions by the United States 

 Department of Agriculture and by Chinese residents. The Hawaii 

 Agricultural Experiment Station Annual Report, 1912, portends an 

 increasing interest in the lychee in those islands, by the statement, 

 11 the litchi plants imported from China direct, and those received 

 through the Office of Seed and Plant Introduction, are making a 

 very satisfactory growth, and may be regarded as past the critical 

 stage." Plate, n figure 2, shows a tree planted March 14, 1908. 



Charles Amory at Sanford, Florida, grew specimens of this 

 fruit as early as 1883 and Theodore L. Meade at Oviedo, Florida, 

 had a tree in 1888. The first lychee tree introduced into California 

 was that planted by E. D. Hadley about 1897. This was secured 

 from Reasoner Bros, of Oneco, Florida, who had imported this 

 tree from Seharanpur, India; and in 1913 it fruited for the first 

 time. In 1914 Mr. Bissett and Mr. Wilson Popenoe of the Office 

 of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction reported the tree in fruit in 

 October. Mr. Popenoe, who had seen fruits in the Orient, said 

 that the fruit of this tree was smaller than that in the Orient, but that 

 the flavor was very pleasant. Prior to 1900 there was a tree growing 

 in the greenhouses at Washington. This flowered but never 

 fruited. 



One of the earliest introductions by the Office of Foreign 

 Seed and Plant Introduction was in 1907, when they received a 

 shipment of plants from China via Shanghai. Rev. W. N. Brews- 

 ter, missionary at Hing-hua fu, Fukien, China, was so convinced 

 of the future of the fruit in America that he imported living trees at 

 his own expense and between July 1, 1907, and January 1, 1908, he 

 sent to the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction interesting 

 data regarding the culture of the lychee and the lungan. The 

 photographs submitted were the first ever received by the office 

 showing the tree in bearing. Subsequent shipments of both seeds and 



1 Higgins, J.E., The Litchi in Hawaii, Hawaii Agricultural Experiment 

 Station, Bulletin No. 44, page 5. 



