Fruit fusion: how will the market react to Chinese scientists’ lychee-longan creation?

Chinese scientists who crossed a lychee with a longan are preparing to test its market release after the first substantial harvest of the high-yield, cold-resistant fruit is expected to ripen next month. The new variety, named “Cuimi”, was bred using the Shixia longan – a popular cultivar in Guangdong province – as its maternal parent and a lychee as its paternal parent, according to the research team. The hybrid fruit breaks long-standing reproductive barriers between plant genera. It has been...