Lychee

The tropical Lychee tree is the sole member of a genus of the soapberry family Sapindaceae. It is native exclusively to the Guangdong and Fujian provinces of China and is famed for its red bark-like berries which contain delicate, whitish flesh with a floral smell and sugary flavor. The common name of lychees in China is ‘courtesan’s smile’, for the famous courtesan Yang Guifei of the Song emperor Li Longji (Xuanzong), who’s love of lychees caused the emperor to have them delivered fresh to the capital from Guangdong province by a relay of fast horses much as was used for important political correspondence in those days. The love of sweet and fragrant lychees soon spread and they were grown throughout Malaysia, India and China. Chinese physicians studied the health-giving properties of lychees for many centuries, and Western medicine is turning up some interesting findings of its own.