Foliicolous fungi of Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

The survey of foliicolous fungi during Feb.-March 2007 in the montane forests of Kodaikanal, Madurai District of Tamil Nadu, India resulted in the discovery a new species of Phyllachora, P. sageretiae on living leaves of Sageretia hamosa besides reporting two interesting rusts and one rare Helicosporous hypomycetes. The two rust fungi are Gambleola cornuta (a subsequent collection after four decades) and Kernella lauricola (collected after five decades from a second site in Western Ghats) with telial columns, and Trochophora fasiculata, a rare hypophyllous fungus on Daphniphyllum neilgherrense from Mathikettan Shola of Kodaikanal hills (re-located after the lapse of more than five decades).