Dimocarpus
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Dimocarpus |
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Dimocarpus longan fruit
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About 20 species, including: |
Dimocarpus is a genus of about 20 species of flowering plants in the soapberry family Sapindaceae, native to tropical southeast Asia and northern Australasia, from Sri Lanka and southern China south to northern Queensland. The fruit is edible, with the Longan (D. longan) being grown commercially for fruit production.
The species are large evergreen trees growing to 25-40 m tall, with pinnate leaves. The flowers are individually inconspicuous, produced in large panicles. The fruit is an oval drupe 3-5 cm long containing a single seed surrounded by a translucent crisp, juicy layer of fruit pulp and a thin but hard orange or red skin.