Mature and immature arils of Taxus baccata, a European yew. A fleshy aril surrounds each seed.

Close-up of pomegranate arils - The seed can be seen inside the translucent flesh.

An aril (or arillus) is a fleshy covering of certain seeds formed from the funiculus (attachment point of the seed). Photograph of European Yew (Eibe) leaves and arils obtained from from the German Wikipedia. ... Photograph of European Yew (Eibe) leaves and arils obtained from from the German Wikipedia. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (823x805, 87 KB) Summary Pomegranate Seeds Licensing Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (823x805, 87 KB) Summary Pomegranate Seeds Licensing Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1. ... A ripe red jalapeno cut open to show the seeds For other uses, see Seed (disambiguation). ...

The aril may create a fruit-like structure (called a false-fruit) and is produced by a few species of gymnosperms, notably the yews and related conifers in the families Taxaceae and Cephalotaxaceae. Instead of having a woody cone as is typical of most gymnosperms, the reproductive structure of the yew consists of a single seed that becomes surrounded by a fleshy, cup-like covering. This covering is derived from a highly modified cone scale. Fruit stall in Barcelona, Spain. ... Coast Douglas-fir cone This article lacks an appropriate Taxobox You can help Wikipedia by adding one. ... Species Taxus baccata - European Yew Taxus brevifolia - Pacific (or Western) Yew Taxus canadensis - Canadian Yew Taxus chinensis - Chinese Yew Taxus cuspidata - Japanese Yew Taxus floridana - Florida Yew Taxus globosa - Mexican Yew Taxus sumatrana - Sumatran Yew Taxus wallichiana - Himalayan Yew Taxus is a genus of yews, small coniferous trees or shrubs... Orders & Families Cordaitales † Pinales   Pinaceae - Pine family   Araucariaceae - Araucaria family   Podocarpaceae - Yellow-wood family   Sciadopityaceae - Umbrella-pine family   Cupressaceae - Cypress family   Cephalotaxaceae - Plum-yew family   Taxaceae - Yew family Vojnovskyales † Voltziales † The conifers, division Pinophyta, also known as division Coniferae, are one of 13 or 14 division level taxa within the... In biological classification, family (Latin: familia, plural familiae) is 1) a rank or 2) a taxon in that rank. ... Genera Taxaceae sensu stricto Taxus Pseudotaxus Austrotaxus — Cephalotaxaceae Torreya Amentotaxus Cephalotaxus The family Taxaceae, commonly called the yew family, includes three genera and about 7 to 12 species of coniferous plants, or in other interpretations (see Classification, below), six genera and about 30 species. ... Genera Cephalotaxus Amentotaxus Torreya Species Cephalotaxus fortunei Cephalotaxus griffithii Cephalotaxus hainanensis Cephalotaxus harringtonia Cephalotaxus koreana Cephalotaxus lanceolata Cephalotaxus latifolia Cephalotaxus manni Cephalotaxus oliveri Cephalotaxus sinensis Cephalotaxus wilsoniana Amentotaxus argotaenia Amentotaxus assamica Amentotaxus formosana Amentotaxus poilanei Amentotaxus yunnanensis Torreya californica Torreya fargesii Torreya grandis Torreya jackii Torreya nucifera Torreya taxifolia The... Trunks A tree trunk as found at the Veluwe, The Netherlands Wood is derived from woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs. ... Mature female European Black Pine cone Male cones of a pine A cone (in formal botanical usage: strobilus, plural strobili) is an organ on plants in the division Pinophyta (conifers) that contains the reproductive structures. ...

In the photographs of a European yew (Taxus baccata) at right and below, note that the aril starts out as a small, green band at the base of the seed, then turns brown to red as it enlarges and surrounds the seed, eventually becoming fleshy and scarlet in color at maturity. The aril is attractive to fruit-eating birds and is non-toxic (all other parts of the yew are toxic), serving therefore to promote dispersal of the yew seed by birds, which digest the fleshy aril as a food source, and pass the seed out in their droppings. Binomial name Taxus baccata L. Taxus baccata is a conifer native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia. ... Orders Many - see section below. ...

The fleshy aril which surrounds each seed in the yew is a highly modified seed cone scale.

The term aril is not limited to yews. It means any specialized outgrowth from the funiculus (or hilum) that covers or is attached to the seed. It is sometimes applied to any appendage or thickening of the seed coat in flowering plants, an example being the edible parts of the pomegranate fruit. Another famous example is the mace of the nutmeg seed. The edible flesh of the longan, lychee, and ackee fruits is a highly developed aril surrounding the seed rather than a pericarp layer. Yew leaves, and mature and immature cones - photo User:MPF File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Yew leaves, and mature and immature cones - photo User:MPF File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Classes Magnoliopsida - Dicots Liliopsida - Monocots The flowering plants (also angiosperms or Magnoliophyta) are one of the major groups of modern plants, comprising those that produce seeds in specialized reproductive organs called flowers, where the ovulary or carpel is enclosed. ... Binomial name Punica granatum L. The Pomegranate (Punica granatum) is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing to 5–8 m tall. ... Species About 100 species, including: Myristica argentea Myristica fragrans Myristica malabarica The nutmegs Myristica are a genus of evergreen trees indigenous to tropical southeast Asia and Australasia. ... Binomial name Dimocarpus longan The longan (Simplified Chinese: 龙眼; Traditional Chinese: 龍眼; pinyin: ; Cantonese long-ngan; literally dragon eye) is an evergreen tree native to southeast Asia from southern China south to Indonesia. ... Binomial name Litchi chinensis Sonn. ... References ITIS 506071 The scientific name for the akee is Blighia sapida. ...

See also

• Elaiosome

Elaiosomes (elaios- oil, some- body) are fleshy structures that are attached to the seeds of many plant species. ...

References

• Anderson, E. & Owens, J. N. (2003). Analysing the reproductive biology of Taxus: should it be included in Coniferales? Acta Hort. 615: 233-234.