Kahala Longan (Dimocarpus longan) a closely related variety (photo courtesy Top Tropicals - TopTropicals.com)
Native Longan
Dimocarpus australianus
Sapindaceae family
Grown from seedling
Also known as Australian Native Lychee, it is a species of trees closely related to the Longan. This is one of our very rare and little known native bush foods.
The fruit has a musky, sweet taste similar to dates, sweeter than a Longan, and drier and less messily juicy than a Lychee. The fruit has a bark-like shell, thin, but firm, making the fruit easy to peel by squeezing the pulp out. Best eaten fresh out of hand.
The tree can reach 10m high, though is best kept to a manageable height of around 3-4 metres.
Native to tropical North QLD.
Tree maintenance
Dimocarpus australianus
Sapindaceae family
Grown from seedling
Also known as Australian Native Lychee, it is a species of trees closely related to the Longan. This is one of our very rare and little known native bush foods.
The fruit has a musky, sweet taste similar to dates, sweeter than a Longan, and drier and less messily juicy than a Lychee. The fruit has a bark-like shell, thin, but firm, making the fruit easy to peel by squeezing the pulp out. Best eaten fresh out of hand.
The tree can reach 10m high, though is best kept to a manageable height of around 3-4 metres.
Native to tropical North QLD.
Tree maintenance
- Pruning once a year after fruiting - select 3-4 main scaffold branches to contain the height (the tree can reach 10m) to 3-4m for ease of harvesting and to facilitate light penetration throughout the canopy.
- An important operation is the pruning of many flower-bearing twigs - remove 3/4 of the flower spikes in the clusters; later, the fruit clusters are also thinned, in order to increase the size and quality of the fruit; finally, after fruiting is finished, cut back the ends of the branches that produced the fruit by at least 45cm.
- Apply NPK with trace elements 3 or 4 time during the warmer months. Mulching is beneficial
Native Longan at LCG December 2024 (photo credit: Jacqui Lachmann)
Native Longan at LCG August 2022 (photo credit: Graham Bond)
