Longans

The longan (simplified Chinese: 龙眼; traditional Chinese: 龍眼; pinyin: lóngyǎn; Cantonese long-ngan; literally "dragon eye"; Thai ลำไย) is a tropical tree native to southern China. It is also found in Southeast Asia. It is also called guiyuan (桂圓) in Chinese, lengkeng in Indonesia, mata kucing (literally "cat's eye") in Malaysia, nhãn in Vietnamese (The Species: Euphoria longana Lamk. named "long nhãn" in Vietnamese- literally "dragon's eyes"), Mora in Sinhalese (Sri Lanka) and also "longan" in Tagalog.

The longan is a medium to large (10 to 20 m tall) evergreen tree with a dense canopy, brittle wood and corky bark which splits and peels. Tree shape depends on the cultivar and varies from erect to spreading. The inflorescences are large (30 to 50 cm long), multi-branched and leafless. They are borne on new growth produced during mid-summer or autumn. The flowers are small, inconspicuous and yellow brown. The fruit are similar to those of lychee in structure, but are smaller, smoother and yellow-tan in colour. The word 'longan' comes from the Chinese and literally means 'dragon-eye' which is an apt description of the fruit after the skin has been removed. The fleshy aril is white to off-white or pinkish in colour and surrounds a red brown, brown to black seed which separates easily from the flesh. The fruit are milder in flavour and less acidic than lychees.

The longan originated in China or in the area between Burma and India. Thailand, China and Taiwan are the main centres of commercial production. In Thailand, production is centred in the tropical monsoon areas of Chiangmai, Lamphun and Phrae at elevations between 300 and 600 m above sea level. The main production centres in China are in the Fujian and Guandong provinces. In Fujian province, longan is second in importance to citrus and is grown in cooler subtropical areas.