Litchi Sonn.

Trees, monoecious. Indumentum of solitary, simple or 2-branched hairs; no glandular scales. Leaves spirally arranged or sometimes partly, nearly opposite, especially towards the inflorescence, paripinnate, 1-4-(?sometimes 5-)jugate; pseudo-stipules absent; petiole and rachis not winged. Leaflets mostly (sub)opposite, beneath dull, margin entire to undulate, mainly in the upper part. Inflorescences terminal and axillary, thyrsoid; bracts triangular, 0.5-2 mm long. Flowers actinomorphic, unisexual. Calyx 4-or 5-merous, outside and inside densely appressed short-hairy, the tube cupular, the lobes to 0.3-0.5 of the length of the tube, apert in bud, equal, not petaloid. Petals absent. Disc annular, small, without appendages. Stamens 6-11, far exserted in male flowers, short in female and in seemingly bisexual, but functionally male flowers; filaments variably hairy; anthers glabrous. Pistil short-stalked; ovary 2-(?or 3-)celled; style terminal, shorter than the ovary; stigma consisting of 2 (or 3?) long, spreading to recoiled lobes. Ovules 1 per cell, basal. Fruits nearly always only 1 cell developed, hardly stipitate, ellipsoid, ovoid, or globular, not winged, indehiscent(?), glabrous, spiny to scaly; pericarp thin, coriaceous to rather hard, endocarp glabrous. Seeds glabrous, partly or completely enveloped by an entire, translucent, juicy arillode.