Endogonaceous mycorrhizas synthesised in Leptospermum (Myrtaceae)

Abstract

Honey-coloured sessile Endogone spores produced mycorrhizas in Leptospermum scoparium. Control plants inoculated with crushed spores formed none. They grew steadily, but much more slowly than mycorrhizal plants. Lack of growth stimulation by other nutrients established that P was the element limiting growth. The steamed soil used contained 8 ppm Truog available phosphorus. The range of P availability over which L. scoparium benefits from a phycomycetous mycorrhiza lies below that for Coprosma robusta. The same inoculum produced mycorrhizal in Solanum nigrum and Lolium perenne. Solanum nigrum grew as welt without mycorrhizas as Leptospermum scoparium did with them and showed only a non-significant growth increase when infected. Lolium perenne produced the largest plants in the experiment mostly with little or no infection.