aril

American  

[ar-il] / ˈær ɪl /

noun

Botany.

1. a usually fleshy appendage or covering of certain seeds, as of the bittersweet, Celastrus scandens, or the nutmeg.

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aril British  

/ ˈærɪl /

noun

1. an appendage on certain seeds, such as those of the yew and nutmeg, developed from or near the funicle of the ovule and often brightly coloured and fleshy

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aril Scientific  

/ ăr′əl /

1. A fleshy seed cover which arises from the funiculus (the stalk of the ovule). Arils, such the red berry-like arils of the yew, are often brightly colored to attract animals who eat them and disperse the seeds. The spice mace is the aril of the nutmeg seed.

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Other Word Forms

• arillate
  adjective
• arilloid
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of aril

1785–95; < New Latin arillus; Medieval Latin: grape seed, probably erroneously for armillus, with same sense; compare Upper Italian dialect armella, arma kernel, pit of a fruit, Italian animella edible insides of an animal < Latin anima literally, spirit (hence, the insides of a thing), with -illa diminutive suffix; see anima

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

aril

Calyx not minute; pod colored, dehiscent; seeds enclosed in a pulpy aril.

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Asa Gray

The two Italian exiles, Carini aril Montanelli, accompanied me.

From The History of a Crime The Testimony of an Eye-Witness by Victor Hugo

Fruit about size of child’s head or smaller, somewhat pear-shaped, juicy, pulp melon-like, 1 compartment with numerous seeds, each in a mucilaginous aril.

From The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines by Jerome Beers Thomas

Each flower-stalk of their long racemes is situated in the aril of such a bract, and the peculiarity is quite a natural one, corresponding exactly to what is seen in the inflorescence of other families.

From Species and Varieties, Their Origin by Mutation by Hugo de Vries

Seed of White Water Lily, enclosed in its aril.

From The Elements of Botany For Beginners and For Schools by Asa Gray

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Related Words

• chaff
• pod
• rind

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