THE LYCHEE IN FLORIDA 1 
Groff, in his “Lychee and Lungan” quotes a verse by Su 
Shih, an exiled Chinese poet, written in A.D. 1094: 
“Beneath these green mountains where spring rules the 
year 
The arbutus and loquat in season appear; 
And feasting on lychee—three hundred a day— 
I shouldn’t mind staying eternally here.” 
The spelling and pronunciation (lychee)) of the common 
name of Litchi Chinensis is that used by G. W. Groff, who lived 
more than thirty years in the Lychee district of China, in his 
book entitled, ‘““The Lychee and the Lungan,” which is con- 
sidered the bible of the Lychee industry. Dr. R. H. Marloth, 
director of the subtropical experiment station of the Union 
of South Africa, where the Lychee is making fine progress, 
refers to Groff as the world’s leading authority on the Lychee. 
“Lychee” is also the approved spelling of the 1942 volume of 
“Standardized Plant Names” published by the Joint American 
Committee on Horticultural Nomenclature. In China where 
most of the Lychees are produced, the pronunciation is lychee. 
ae where some Lychees are produced; the pronunciation 
is leechee. 
PROPAGATION BY CHINESE AIR-LAYERING 
From the time of the discovery that plants would grow 
from seed, man has endeavored to devise means of more rapid 
propagation. Various methods of rooting of cuttings, bud- 
ee grafting have been devised, each of benefit to hor- 
ticulture. 
Many centuries ago some smart Chinese gardener, a 
“oreen thumber,” let us assume, observed the low lying limbs 
of a tree or other plant rooting through contact with the soil, 
making a new plant, which could be cut off and transplanted. 
Sooner or later it dawned on our Chinese horticultural 
benefactor that if he would take the dirt up to some of the 
limbs that could not be pulled down to the ground, tie it on 
and keep it moist he might be able to propagate more trees. 
The process finally resulted in what became known as Chinese 
air-layering which, by refinement of method grew to be a boon 
to horticulturists. 
Although this method of propagating young trees has 
been employed throughout the world for a great many years, 
it involved considerable expense because of the necessity of 
keeping the rooting material wet, and many potential young 
trees were lost because they were not regularly watered. The 
use of certain plastic wrappers that hold moisture but permit 
the passage of respiratory gases is the result of successful 
efforts to overcome this drawback. 
