Arbutoid mycorrhiza

A mycorrhiza (from Greek μύκης mýkēs, "fungus", and ῥίζα rhiza, "root"; pl. mycorrhiza or mycorrhizas or (mainly U.S. mycorrhizae) is a symbiotic association between a fungus and the roots of a vascular host plant. The term mycorrhiza refers to the role of the fungi in the plants' rhizosphere, its root system. Mycorrhizae play important roles in soil biology and soil chemistry.

In a mycorrhizal association, the fungus colonizes the host plant's root tissues, either intracellularly as in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF or AM), or extracellularly as in ectomycorrhizal fungi. The association is generally mutualistic, but in particular species or in particular circumstances, mycorrhizae may be variously pathogenic in the host plants.

A mycorrhiza is the symbiotic association between a green plant and a fungus. The plant captures the energy coming from the sun by means of its chlorophyll and supplies it to the fungus, and the fungus supplies water and mineral nutrients taken from the soil to the plant. Mycorrhizas are located in the roots of the plant. Most plant species form mycorrhizal associations, though some families like Brassicaceae and Chenopodiaceae cannot. There is fossil evidence that early land plants formed arbuscular mycorrhizal associations. Different forms for the association are detailed in next section. The most common is the arbuscular type that is present in 70% of plant species, including many crop plants such as wheat and rice.

Mycorrhizas are commonly divided into ectomycorrhizas and endomycorrhizas. The two types are differentiated by the fact that the hyphae of ectomycorrhizal fungi do not penetrate individual cells within the root, while the hyphae of endomycorrhizal fungi penetrate the cell wall and invaginate the cell membrane. Endomycorrhiza includes arbuscular, ericoid, and orchid mycorrhiza, while arbutoid mycorrhizas can be classified as ectoendomycorrhizas. Monotropoid mycorrhizas form a special category.

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