🇺🇸
/ˈærəl/
🇺🇸
/ˈærəl/
🇬🇧
/ˈærəl/
🇬🇧
/ˈærəl/
Plural
arils
An aril is a special, often colorful and fleshy growth that wraps part or all of a seed — like nature's candy wrapper designed to lure animals into eating and dispersing the seed. Think of the bright red, juicy covering around the hard black seed of a yew berry or the crimson lace-like coating on a nutmeg seed.
The bright red aril of the yew berry is attractive to birds, though the seed inside is highly toxic.
Nutmeg is actually the seed, while the mace is the dried red aril surrounding it.
Botanists distinguish true arils, which develop from the funiculus, from pseudarils, which arise from other tissues.
In some tropical plants, the aril becomes swollen and fragrant to entice fruit bats for seed dispersal.
The aril of the longan fruit is translucent, sweet, and jelly-like, encasing the glossy brown seed.
aril
Comes from the Latin 'arillus' (also spelled 'arillus'), a botanical term of uncertain ultimate origin, possibly related to Latin 'āra' (altar) or Greek 'arillos' (a kind of berry), but widely treated as a standalone botanical root in English. It denotes a specialized seed-covering structure that develops from the funiculus or ovary base and is often fleshy, brightly colored, and attractive to animals for seed dispersal. Examples include aril, arillode, arillate, arillation.