|
在林村鍾屋村一群16株的荔枝樹，樹齡為110年，10米高，相信是以前荔枝園餘下的樹木．附近還有2棵180年樹齡荔枝高度分別是15米及10米．荔枝群的樹木不算高，可能是以往常作修剪的緣故．荔枝農選一棵樹做伯公樹，選中荔枝是意料之內．
香港果農以種植荔枝，龍眼為主，過百年的樹木理應為常見，不過，種植荔枝和龍眼是為了收成，當樹身過高，或收成日少，樹木便沒有保留的價值．根據天地圖書出版的香港古樹名木，荔枝最老的只找到180年，龍眼是200年，與它們可存活的年份還欠了一截呢．
There is a
group of 16 Lychee trees (Litchi chinensis) in Chung
Uk Tsuen, Lam Tsuen. They are about 110 years old at a
height of 10 meters. It is believed that they are the
leftover from the former lychee orchard. There are two more
lychee trees nearby at the age of 180 years and the heights
are 15 meters and 10 meters respectively. The trees in the
group are not too tall and it may probably due to regular
pruning. When lychee farmers select a tree to be their
「granduncle tree」, it is not surprising at all that Lychee
is their choice.
Lychee (Litchi chinensis) and
Longan (Dimocarpus longan) are the main crops of Hong
Kong orchard farmers. It should have been quite common to
see these species to be over a hundred years of age.
However, for the sake of harvest, if these trees are too
tall or are low in yield, these trees will have no value to
be retained. According to 「Hong Kong Old and Valuable
Trees」 published by Cosmos Books, the oldest lychee is only
180 years old and that of longan is only 200 years old.
It』s quite a big difference comparing to their actual
survivability.
*translated by Mary Chung |
