RHIZOPOGON (RHIZOPOGONACEAE): HYPOGEOUS FUNGI IN EXOTIC PLANTATIONS FROM THE STATE OF SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL1

(Rhizopogon (Rhizopogonaceae): hypogeous fungi in exotic plantations from the State of São Paulo, Brazil). A survey on the genus Rhizopogon, associated with roots of exotic trees in State of São Paulo (Brazil), was undertaken from January /1999 to September/2000. Three species were identified: R. luteolus Fr., R. roseolus Corda sensu A. H. Smith and R. rubescens Tul. This is the first report of R. luteolus and R. roseolus from Brazil.


Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction
The Brazilian hypogeous gasteroid fungi have received scant attention from collectors in the past and have not been adequately collected.Few specimens in the herbaria have been sufficiently studied or even not.
The basidiomata of this species were found aggregated with roots of Pinus radiata exhibiting ectomycorrhizal association observed through the microscopic analysis and the presence of the mantle and Hartig net.This evidence was also mentioned by Mikola (1969), who found the same association between these species from New knowledge of Basidiomycetes in Brazil, particularty the gasteroid forms.
Hand-cut sections of fresh and dried material were mounted in Melzer's reagent, 3% KOH, water or cotton blue for microscopical examination (Singer, 1986).Permanent slides were made using PVL resin (Alcohol Polyvinilic and Lactophenol), according to Trappe & Schenck (1982).
The mycorrhizal observations were accomplished by using the methods mentioned by Zak (1971) and Zak & Bryan (1963).Color terms in parenthesis are those of Kornerup & Wanscher (1978).The material is preserved at the Herbario do Estado Maria Eneyda P. K. Fidalgo (SP), abbreviated according to the Index Herbariorum (Holmgren et al., 1990).(Coker & Couch, 1928;Zeller, 1939;Smith & Zeller, 1966;Harrison & Smith, 1968), Finland (Schulmann, 1955), Chile (Garrido, 1986).Remarks: This species is close to R. rubescens in several morphological characters; some authors (Moyersoen & Demoulin, 1996) lists R. rubescens as a synonym of R. roseolus.However, in our opinion and following Smith & Zeller (1966), there are sufficient characters to segregate these taxa.The color of the reddish brown peridium surface and small size of basidiomata are some peculiar characteristics of the Brazilian specimens.

Results and discussion
The basidiomata of this species grow solitary, and aggregated with roots of Pinus taeda, an exotic conifer having North American origin introduced in cerrado biome.Probably R. roseolus had the same origin.This symbiotic relationship was confirmed by rhizomorphs aggregated with the conifer roots and through microscopic analysis with the presence of the mantle and Hartig net.Mikola (1969) also found the ectomycorrhizal association between R. roseolus with Pinus radiata and another undetermined species of Pinus from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Nigeria and Trinidad.This is the first report of R. roseolus from Brazil.Rhizopogon Rhizopogon Rhizopogon Rhizopogon Rhizopogon    , 1928;Smith & Zeller, 1966;Harrison & Smith, 1968), Australia (Cleland, 1935;Cunningham, 1944), United Kingdom (Hawker, 1955), Chile (Garrido, 1986), Finland (Eckblad & Lange, 1992), Belgique (Moyersoen & Demoulin, 1996), Brazil (Giachini et al., 2000).Remarks: This species can be characterized by the size of basidiomata, basidiospores and paraphyses.It differ from R. luteolus and R. roseolus mainly by the rhizomorphs in these cited species, whereas in R. rubescens the rhizomorphs have a basal localization.