Fungal Endophytes (Phellophytes) of some Tropical Forest Trees

Abstract

The periderm tissue of ten tree species growing in a dry deciduous forest and a montane evergreen forest of the Western Ghats was sampled for the presence of filamentous fungi (phellophytes). These trees, belonging to six families, yielded a total of 963 phellophyte isolates that could be grouped in to 36 species. Of these, four were Ascomycetes, one belonged to Coelomycetes, and eleven were Hyphomycetes. The rest were sterile mycelial forms. Alternaria alternata and a Fusarium sp. (49) could be isolated from more number of tree species. Some phellophytes were unique to certain tree species. The mean density of colonisation was maximum for the bark of Rhododendron arboreum. Twenty three isolates of phellophytes occurred as endophytes in living leaf tissues of the trees.