page_title: Longan
section_title: Folk medicine
hierarchical_section_title: Longan / Folk medicine
caption_attribution_description: Fruta LONGAN (Dimocarpus longan)
context_page_description: Dimocarpus longan, commonly known as the longan, is a tropical tree species that produces edible fruit. It is one of the better-known tropical members of the soapberry family Sapindaceae, to which the lychee and rambutan also belong. The fruit of the longan is similar to that of the lychee, but less aromatic in taste. It is native to tropical Asia and China.
  The longan, is so named because it resembles an eyeball when its fruit is shelled. The seed is small, round and hard, and of an enamel-like, lacquered black. The fully ripened, freshly harvested fruit has a bark-like shell, thin, and firm, making the fruit easy to peel by squeezing the pulp out as if one were "cracking" a sunflower seed. When the shell has more moisture content and is more tender, the fruit becomes less convenient to shell. The tenderness of the shell varies due to either premature harvest, variety, weather conditions, or transport/storage conditions.
context_section_description: Longan is commonly found in traditional Eastern folk medicine. This is a common occurrence since, prior to the 1800s, longan was most prevalent in Asia.
  In ancient Vietnamese medicine, the "eye" of the longan seed is pressed against snakebites to absorb the venom. This was ineffective, but is still commonly used today.
caption: A peeled longan fruit
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