On the Arilloids of Nephelium, Euphoria, Litchi and Aesculus, and the Seeds of Sapindaceae in general

The seeds of the Sapindaceae show some remarkable features. One of them is the “ Wurzeltasche” or radicular pocket, separated from the main part of the seed by a “deep fold of the testa”. Another noteworthy feature is the pluriformity of the fleshy parts round or near the seed. The fleshy part may belong either to the seed itself or to the pericarp. Radlkofer, the well-known specialist on the Sapindaceae, originally used the term aril for all these fleshy parts, which means that he used it in an ecological sense. In his study on the “aril” of Sapindaceae (1878) he proposed to use the terms: a) arillo epispermatico, b) a. esostomatico, c) a. ombelicale-esostomatico, d) a. ombelicalo and e) a. endocarpico, for those, morphologically heterogeneous, structures. In this paper these structures will be designated as follows, a) sarcotesta (fleshy testa), b) micropylar arillode, c) micropylar-chalazal arillode [b and c are fleshy parts of the testa restricted to a definite area), d) true aril, and e) endocarp pulpa.