Longan

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Longan

Longan fruit

Conservation status

Near Threatened

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Sapindales
Family:	Sapindaceae
Genus:	Dimocarpus
Species:	D. longan

Binomial name

Dimocarpus longan
Lour.

The Longan (Simplified Chinese: 龙眼; Traditional Chinese: 龍眼; pinyin: lóngyǎn; Cantonese long-ngan; Vietnamese long nhãn - literally "dragon eye"; Thai ลองกอง) is an evergreen tree native to Southeast Asia from southern China south to Indonesia. It is also called guiyuan (桂圆) in Chinese, cuả nhãn in Vietnamese and lengkeng in Indonesia. The longan ("dragon eyes") is so named because of the fruit's resemblance to an eyeball when it is shelled (the black seed shows through the translucent flesh like a pupil/iris).

The fruit is edible, and is often used in East Asian soups, snacks, desserts, and sweet-and-sour foods. They are round with a thin, brown-coloured inedible shell. The flesh of the fruit, which surrounds a big, black seed, is translucent white, soft, and juicy.

Longans and lychees bear fruit at around the same time of the year. Dried longan (Chinese: 圓肉; pinyin: yuánròu; literally "round meat") are often used in Chinese food therapy and herbal medicine and Chinese sweet desert soups. In contrast with the fresh fruit, the flesh of dried longans is dark brown to almost black.