Kelley — 46 — Mycotrophy 



Even though one were to say it is necessary to know fungal 

 identity to distinguish between beneficial and parasitic species, the 

 argument breaks down before the realization that, strictly speaking, 

 there are no mycorrhizal fungi : there is only a mycorrhizal state. 

 Apparently almost any fungus can be a non-pathogenic symbiont ; 

 but nature of the symbiosis depends on a complex of physiological 

 and ecological conditions or influences, and not necessarily upon any 

 specific fungus, and the non-pathogen under diflferent circumstances 

 may become a pathogen, or the reverse. Since there is apparently no 

 specificity in mycorrhizal endophytism, and since no analyses of my- 

 celia are made to determine specific differences, the identifying of the 

 mycorrhizal endophytes must be regarded somewhat in the nature of an 

 hobby. It is important, just as every scientific discovery is important, 

 but its importance would seem to consist chiefly in allaying our 

 curiosity as to what fungi can enter into mycorrhizal symbiosis. It 

 is something like discovery of mountains in the Antarctic, — very 

 interesting but of no obvious utility. 



