A friendly co-worker gave me some litchis; they are in season here for the next month or two. The word in Chinese has its own character.
Britannica online encyclopedia : Litchis are fruit of Litchi chinensis, a tree of the family Sapindaceae, believed native to southern China and adjacent regions. The handsome tree develops a compact crown of foliage, bright green the year round. The leaves are compound, composed of two to four pairs of elliptic to lanceolate leaflets that are 50–75 mm (2–3 inches) long. The flowers, small and inconspicuous, are borne in loose, diverse terminal clusters, or panicles, sometimes 30 cm (12 inches) in length.
