FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
225 
ous fruits. It is also cultivated in India. 
The tree bears large compound leaves 
with two or four pairs of leathery lan- 
celate pointed leaflets, about three inch¬ 
es long, and panicles of small flowers 
without petals. The fruits are com¬ 
monly roundish, about an inch and a 
half in diameter with a thin brittle red 
shell which bears rough protuberances. 
In the fresh state they are filled with a 
sweet, white pulp, which envelopes a 
large brown seed, but in the dried con¬ 
dition, the pulp forms a blockish fleshy 
substance. The pulp is of a reolux of an 
aril, that is an additional seed coat. 
Nephelium belongs to the natural or¬ 
der Sapindaecea and contains about 22 
species. 
Nephelium Longana is a native of 
southern China. It is cultivated in that 
country, in Malay Peninsula, India and 
Ceylon for its fruit, which is smaller 
than that of the Litchi, being from one 
half to an inch in diameter.”—Encyclo¬ 
pedia. 
“Litchi. A Chinese edible fruit, 
which is occasionally to be found in the 
fruit stores of our seaport cities. It is 
produced by a small tree belonging to 
the Spindacea, the family which {in¬ 
cludes the horsechestnut, soapberry, 
etc. 
The leaves are pinnate, and the small 
apetalous flowers are in pannelos at the 
ends of the branches. The fruit, which 
is borne in clusters, is globular, about 
an inch and a half in diameter, and 
when fresh is filled with a sweet, white, 
nearly transparent, jelly-like pulp, with¬ 
in which is a single seed. 
The Chinese are exceedingly fond of 
this pulp and esteem the Litchi above 
all other nature fruits. 
The fruit comes to us in the dried 
state only, but they are dried for house 
use as well as for exportation. As 
found in the stores, the very thin, hand¬ 
somely marked shell, of a reddish 
brown color and partly empty from 
shrinking of the pulp in drying, and 
which tastes somewhat like prunes. 
Other species of Nephelium furnish 
the Longan and Rambuton, fruits high¬ 
ly esteemed in China and neighboring 
countries, but the Litchi is the only one 
imported.”—American Cyclopedia. 
“One of the most delicious fruits of 
China, Cochin China and the Malay Ar¬ 
chipelago. The Chinese preserve the 
fruit by drying and in the dried state ■ 
it is imported.”—Everybody’s Cyclope¬ 
dia. 
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