The lychee is a handsome tree, sometimes grown as an ornamental, with a dense round crown which may reach some 30 m in height. Its compound leaves have two to four pairs of pointed leaflets. Flowers are borne in clusters (each cluster being up to 75 cm long) at the ends of the branches. ... Lychees are usually peeled and eaten fresh. ... They can also be canned or frozen; the deseeded canned arils are probably the most familiar form in this country, and area a favourite dessert in Chinese restaurants. In their dried form, peeled lychees are called 'lychee nuts' and are eaten like raisins. The Chinese use lychee flesh as a cough remedy and the ground seeds as an analgesic.
