In a groundbreaking development at the National Field Genebank for Lychee in Tianhe district of Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province, the world's first hybrid lychee tree crossbred using lychee as the maternal parent and longan as the paternal parent has borne fruit.

In botany, lychee and longan belong to different genera, so natural reproductive barriers usually make intergeneric breeding impossible. However, Chinese scientists have just pulled off an incredible genetic breakthrough.

Temporarily named "Huaishi" (怀石), this hybrid marks a historic breakthrough in overcoming reproductive isolation between these two popular summer fruits.

The world's first lychee-longan hybrid, named "Huaishi", has borne fruit in Tianhe district of Guangzhou. [Photo/WeChat account: tianhefabu]

In 2015, experts from the Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, led by Ou Liangxi, attempted an intergeneric hybridization using the late-maturing lychee variety "Huaizhi" and the "Shixia" longan. The resulting offspring defied expectations, producing early-maturing fruit with a crisp, sweet, aromatic profile that outperformed other early-maturing lychee varieties.

This historic breakthrough was made possible by the world's largest living lychee gene bank in Guangzhou. Over the past 60 years, the facility has preserved more than 700 germplasm samples, including local varieties and overseas specimens that have disappeared from commercial cultivation.

In 2022, South China Agricultural University developed "Cui Mi", the first longan-lychee hybrid with longan as the maternal parent. The successful bidirectional breakthrough in overcoming reproductive barriers between the lychee and longan genera highlights the innovative potential of the world's largest lychee gene bank.

The National Field Genebank for Lychee in Tianhe. [Photo/WeChat account: tianhefabu]