Arils of Dried Fruits and Their Relationship with Dissemination

Arils are found in fruits of various taxa. The main function of dry fruit’s arils is to participate in the dissemination. This study is devoted the relationships of aril’s morphology-anatomical structure with types of dissemination. Standard methods of light microscopy were used. Structure of the arils and other part of fruit is studied in mature fruits of 34 species Euonymus, Viola, Asarum, Euphorbia, Litchi. The arils of the studied plants differ in several characters: the degree of seed cover, the area of attachment to the seed, the strength of attachment to the seed, color, smell, morphological nature, texture, anatomical features, including the number of cells and the presence of reserve substances. seeds of the studied plants are distributed endozoochornic, synzoochoric, ornithochoric, myrmecochoric and ballistochoric. The main characters of aril, that determine successful endozoochoric and sinzoochoric dissemination are degree of seed cover, smell, nutrients, texture, area and strength of attachment; ornithochoric—degree of seed cover, color, nutrients, area and attachment strength; myrmecochoric: smell, nutrients, location, area and strength of attachment; ballistochoric—location, texture, the presence of thickenings of the cell walls. The primary attractants are the nutritional value of the arils and the presence of some substances. The secondary attractants for ornithochoric plants are the color of the arils and the degree of the seed, and for endozoochirnic and myrmecochoric plants—its smell.