Litchi chinensis
Sonn. · speciesAt a glance
Sources16 archives
Databases and archives Litchi chinensis's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation21 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility1 514 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI12 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics18 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
FooDBThe Metabolomics Innovation Centrecompounds↗
foodatlascompounds
LOTUSNatural Products (Wikidata)compounds↗
NPASSNat. Product Activity & Species Sourcecompounds↗
GRIN TaxonomyUSDA-ARSdistribution & uses↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
PloiDBPloidy Databasegenome & karyotype
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
LycheeAlso sometimes spelled litchi, liechee, liche, lizhi, li zhi, or lichee. (US: ; UK: ; Litchi chinensis; ) is a monotypic taxon and the sole member in the genus Litchi in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae. It is a tropical tree native to the Guangdong, Fujian, and Yunnan provinces of Southeast and Southwest China, where cultivation is documented from the 11th century. China is the main producer of lychees, followed by India, other countries in Southeast Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, Madagascar and South Africa. A tall evergreen tree, the lychee bears small fleshy fruits. The outside of the fruit is pink-red, roughly textured, and inedible, covering sweet flesh eaten in many different dessert dishes. Lychee seeds contain methylene cyclopropyl glycine which can cause hypoglycemia associated with outbreaks of encephalopathy in undernourished Indian and Vietnamese children who had consumed lychee fruit.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology5
Life cycle & reproduction6
Diet & foraging1
Habitat & environment7
Physiology & chemistry8
Compounds documented for Litchi chinensis across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
Compound class profile5 classes
Documented compounds5 754 total
| Compound | Class | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sugars | 66,100 mg/100g | FooDB | |
| Potassium | 1,110 mg/100g | FooDB | |
| gamma-aminobutyric acid | 350 mg/100g | FoodAtlas | |
| epsilon-Polylysine | 187 mg/100g | FooDB | |
| L-Ascorbic acid | 183 mg/100g | FooDB | |
| Phosphorus | 181 mg/100g | FooDB |
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Litchi chinensis has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
The complete instruction manual Litchi chinensis carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
2n 306×CCDB · ipcn-api-dl · CCDB · book-indian_vol1 · CCDB · book-fedorov +1
2n 282×CCDB · book-fedorov · CCDB · book-atlas-flowering-plants
n 153×CCDB · ipcn-api-dl · CCDB · book-ipcn75-78 · CCDB · book-ipcn73-74
diploid inferred1×PloiDB · family-scale
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type1 514 records
Origin
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions34 of 66 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Beijing, CN | 47 |
| Guilin, CN | 39 |
| Chapingo, MX | 28 |
| Guangzhou, CN | 21 |
| Kunming, CN | 11 |
| Taipei, TW | 7 |
| Auckland, NZ | 6 |
| Baroda, IN | 5 |
| National Biodiversity Institute, Costa Ricalocation not on record | 5 |
| Paris, FR | 5 |
| Saint Louis, US | 5 |
| Tampa, US | 5 |
| Bronx, US | 4 |
| University of Stellenboschlocation not on record | 4 |
| Natural History Museum, Tribhuvan Universitylocation not on record | 3 |
| UFBAlocation not on record | 3 |
| Miami, US | 3 |
| Salvador, BR | 3 |
| Moscow State Universitylocation not on record | 3 |
| Area de Conservacion Guanacastelocation not on record | 3 |
| Universidad de Caldas (UCaldas)location not on record | 2 |
| Canadian Department of Agriculturelocation not on record | 2 |
| Istituto Agrario Castelnuovolocation not on record | 2 |
| Antiguo Cuscatlán, SV | 2 |
| Tsukuba, JP | 2 |
| Smithfield, AU | 2 |
| FFPRIlocation not on record | 2 |
| Kew, GB | 2 |
| Durango, MX | 2 |
| LDlocation not on record | 2 |
| Zürich, CH | 2 |
| Herbarium of South China Botanical Gardenlocation not on record | 2 |
| UNESP, Campus São José Rio Prêtolocation not on record | 1 |
| Santa Barbara, US | 1 |
| Institut fur Allgemeine Mikrobiologielocation not on record | 1 |
| FUNEDlocation not on record | 1 |
| UFSMlocation not on record | 1 |
| UNESP-FCAVlocation not on record | 1 |
| UFRRJlocation not on record | 1 |
| San Jose State University, Museum of Birds and Mammalslocation not on record | 1 |
| Brasília, BR | 1 |
| Rotorua, NZ | 1 |
| Instituto do Meio Ambientelocation not on record | 1 |
| Leiden University Medical Centerlocation not on record | 1 |
| Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record | 1 |
| Seychelles National Herbariumlocation not on record | 1 |
| Riverside, US | 1 |
| Instituto para la Investigación y la Preservación del Patrimonio Cultural y Natural del Valle del Cauca - INCIVAlocation not on record | 1 |
| TAFORI-LSRClocation not on record | 1 |
| Vancouver, CA | 1 |
| Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA)location not on record | 1 |
| Bloomington, US | 1 |
| TAIElocation not on record | 1 |
| Brisbane, AU | 1 |
| Berlin, DE | 1 |
| Durban, ZA | 1 |
| Museo naturalistico del Frignano Ferruccio Minghellilocation not on record | 1 |
| Cuiabá, BR | 1 |
| Cenargenlocation not on record | 1 |
| Qarshi Botanical Gardenlocation not on record | 1 |
| Taipei, TW | 1 |
| Millersville, US | 1 |
| St. Augustine, TT | 1 |
| Gump Stationlocation not on record | 1 |
| BISHlocation not on record | 1 |
| Mexico City, MX | 1 |
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Where the DNA of Litchi chinensis was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.