i have three emperors in containers. here are some pictures from 2-3 months ago. they've actually grown very well and are large and bushier. I'll take new pictures.

these were 3g emperors up planted to 15-20g containers - probably should have gone smaller.

the vegetative flushes are similar to Mauritius/SH/Brewster - but the leaves are smaller. even compared with a 3G Brewster, the Brewster leaves are about twice as large.

the emperors also has similar growth cycles as my SH/Mauritius - early spring they had 4-6 weeks between growths and they both accelerated at peak summer.

'Emperor' is closer related to 'Mauritius' in that they are both mountain-type lychees, smaller tree size and slightly more hardiness and drought tolerance. That's where the similarities end however, because Emperor fruits can get huge. This size also means that the flavor can be a little watery and insipid unfortunately (again sort of the opposite of Mauritius). You can generally tell the difference between mountain and water-type lychees in that the fruits on water-type have smoother skin.

Andi,

Thanks for sharing pictures of your Emperor lychees. They all look super healthy and one of them is even flushing so nicely. Have you gotten fruit from any of them yet and if so, how do you describe its taste in comparison to the other varieties?

Parker Turtle,

Very interesting facts about the mountain type and water type lychees. So, the Emperor is a mountain type with a little water type quality? I know what you mean by the water type. I remember some of the store bought ones are like that. Do you think Sweetheart, Hak Ip and Brewster are all mountain type? These are the varieties I have that have borne fruit for me and I don't remember their flesh being watery. For me personally, I'd rather prefer a more succulent and tough quality to it than a softer and more runny one.

By the way, do you have an Emperor lychee now and if so how old is it and when did it start to bear fruit for you? Mine bloomed the first year I took it home, but did not fruit. For the past couple of years, it attempted flowering, but again no fruit from it. Maybe it's still too young to fruit ... so I've been thinking of planting it to the ground and hope the growth will take off from there and we'll see what happens.

all three were purchased in late winter this year as 3G plants and now in 20g planters.

I purchased them after when they would have bloomed. I highly doubt them did bloom because their canopy was much smaller

Prevent photos

Here is the other one with more elongated and tapered leaves