Longan

Dimocarpus longan Lour.

die-moe-CAR-puss LON-gan

Sapindaceae

Explanation of name:  Dimocarpus comes from Greek for “twice fruit,” possibly a reference to the bilobed stigma.  Longan is a Latinized Chinese name for the fruit, meaning dragon eye.

Natural range:  Tropical Asia.

Recognition:   Tree with pinnate leaves having 6-9 leaflets.   Flowers small greenish or yellowish, in large open panicles.   Fruits brown drupes the sizes of grapes. Resembles Lychee, but the leaflet tips blunt or merely acute (without abrupt sharp tip), and the leaflets darker green, especially on the undersides.  Lychees are red.  ‘Kohala’ is the main cultivar in Florida.

Landscape uses: Tree (potentially large) with edible fruit.  Forgiving of diverse conditions and of drought, and naturally adapted to cool but not freezing winters.  But not freeze-tolerant.  Propagation is mostly by air layering.

Internet sources: http://www.ipmcenters.org/cropprofiles/docs/FLlycheeLongan.pdf

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/document_mg049