n.
Special covering of certain seeds that commonly develops from the seed stalk.
It is often a bright-coloured fleshy envelope, as in such woody plants as the yew s and nutmeg and in members of the arrowroot family, oxalis , and the castor-oil plant . Animals are attracted to arils and eat the seeds, dispersing them in their wastes. The aril of nutmeg is the source of the spice known as mace.