Advances in Study on Aril of Spermatophyte

The concept of aril,developmental process,morphological characteristics and biological significance of the aril were summarized based on comprehensively consulting the related literature,and a statistics of species with aril in China was concluded.The statistics showed that there were about 620 arillate species in China.Family Celastraceae shared the most,with 133 species,accounting for 21% of the totality,followed by families of Zingiberaceae,Annonaceae,Commelinaceae,Polygalaceae,Elaeocarpaceae in turn.87% of the all arillate species in China belonged to tropical floral elements.The number of woody arillate plants was 2 times as much as herbaceous.434 species with dehiscent fruits accounted for 70% of the total aril plant species in China,among which capsular fruit plant species was the majority with 370 aril species.