aril
/ˈarɪl
/noun Botany
An extra seed covering, typically coloured and hairy or fleshy, e.g. the red fleshy cup around a yew seed.What are commonly thought of as spices today are a collection of seeds, berries, flowers, fruits, kernels, roots, rhizomes, leaves, arils, barks and saps that are used in cooking and food preparation....
- The fruits, about 6 cm in length, are red or yellow, and, when ripe, split to expose three shining black seeds surrounded by fleshy arils.
- The frail, brown shell is marked with longitudinal ridges, sometimes having a whitish aril (seed coat) fixed to one end.
Derivatives
arillate
- In an arillate fruit, the aril is a fleshy outgrowth of the seed's own outer covering.
- The migrant bird Tersina viridis utilizes arillate seeds of the Asian tree Michelia champaca.
- It was not possible to compare the removal and predation rates between arillate and non-arillate seeds due to the fast removal of the aril by invertebrates such as harvestmen, grasshoppers and especially ants.
Origin
Mid 18th century: from modern Latin arillus, of unknown origin; perhaps related to medieval Latin arilli 'dried grape stones'.