Epichloë (genus)
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Author(s): Gerhard Koller
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Epichloë (Fr.) Tul. & C. Tul. 1865
The genus includes endophytic fungi which are found in grasses. Many produce toxic alkaloids which can prevent insect damage as well as infections with pathogens. They can also poison livestock feeding on the grasses and cause the choke disease of grasses. The fungi apparently have evolved in a symbiotic relationship with the grasses and protect them from these herbivores and pathogens.
From the crop protection point of view, those forms preventing infections by pathogens or damage by insects must be considered beneficials. On the other hand, forms which cause the choke disease of grasses are pathogenic and are covered here under the group of plant pathogens. These forms can also develop a felt-like stroma on the surface of the culms and a dense mycelium that often prevents seed head emergence.
The fungi of Epichloë live between the plant cells or as epiphytes on the leaf surface where they produce conidia and sexual perithecia. The spores often spread by insects and some forms are also seedborne. Further, some species form sclerotia as a resting stage. The teleomorphic forms have been described under the genus Neotyphodium. With the adoption of the "one fungus one name" rule, the Epichloë names have aquired taxonomic priority.
For a review of the genus see Tadych et al., 2014.
Note:
This page only covers pathogenic forms of Epichloë. For other forms see:
The following species are currently entered in the system:
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