Dimocarpus longan (Longan)

Latin name: Dimocarpus longan

English: Longan, Dragon’s Eye

Chinese: 龍眼, 桂圓

Characteristics: Tree. Flowers March to August. Fruits September to November.

Habitat found growing: Cultivated.

Edible parts: Fruit and leaves.

Suggested uses and recipes: Leaves used to make bupin tea. The longan ‘fruit’ is actually the aril (fleshy covering) of the seed. This covering is transparent, white when fresh, very juicy and sweet, becoming brown and black on drying. The leaves and fruit can also be dried and preserved.

Nifty notes: The Chinese ideograms representing bupin (the tea made from longan leaves) can be translated into ‘repair’. The dried round fruits thrown over bride and groom at weddings.

Any toxicity pertaining to use: –-

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