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Foliicolous fungi of Silent ValleyINTRODUCTIONTropical forests are rich in their biodiversity and playan important role in the socio-economic development ofthe country. Floristic work on flowering plants and fernsof some regions and revisionary work of some floweringplants in India have appeared and Western Ghats regionof peninsular India harbour about 4000 flowering plants.However, study of lower groups like fungi are yet to betaken up systematically.The leaf and other chlorophyll bearing plant parts arethe vital and work as a ‘mini industries’ in the preparationof food materials and such parts are subjected to severalfungal diseases. Leaves of all types form suitablesubstrates for many fungi. As and when leaf unfolds, itwill be almost clean but provides a landing site for allmicrobes. Leaf surfaces are differential spore traps.Their efficiency of trapping depends upon their positionand nature such as: vertical, wet or dry, hairy or glabrous,glossy or mat, waxy or non-waxy, etc. Though all sporesof the obligate parasites will not germinate on all hosts,they never miss to infect the suitable or compatible hostbecause of their host specificity. It is also evidenced inseveral instances that the plants are identified by usingthe microbes as tools.Leaves are one of the most important, vital andprecious parts of plants to indicate health of plants.Healthy leaves indicate health of plants and theirproduce. They are the mini industry for the productionof the food materials both for the plants and itsdependent animals. However, these green parts of theplants are directly exposed to interact with environmentand microbes like algae, fungi, bacteria, virus, etc. Theknowledge about this interaction of the plants with otherorganisms is meager. There are certain instances thatfungi erode certain plant community as is evidenced inseveral cultivated plants infected with rusts, smuts, etc.Hence, an understanding of the occurrence of differentfoliicolous fungi on the plants of this area is essential.Silent Valley forest represents a unique patch oftropical evergreen rain forest very rich in its biodiversitywith many new, rare and important species. It is locatedin Palghat District in Kerala state having high ridges andvalleys. Though the floristic wealth of this area is wellexplored, study on the occurrence and distribution offoliicolous fungi is very much sporadic and fragmentary.Foliicolous fungi are leaf infecting fungi occur on almostall angiosperms with high host specificity. It reducesthe photosynthetic efficiency and causes severaldiseases of the leaves. Hence, the study of leaf infectingmicrofungi in Silent Valley area has revealed noveltiesHosagoudar & Rijuand discoveries.Silent Valley National Park is important tropical virginrain forests of India noted for its biodiversity and speciesrichness. It is a much whispering place, located inPalghat District in Kerala State, believed to be more thanfifty million years old (Swaminathan 1999), having anarea of 8952ha, located at an altitude ranging from 750–2383 m, receives more than 5000mm rain fall annually,temperature ranges from 8–29 0 C. It harbours evergreenforests. Manilal (1988) has given an account of 966species belonging to 559 genera distributed among 134families of flowering plants. An account of microfungifrom water and litter has been studied by Subramanian(1986). The systematic study of the foliicolous fungiof this virgin forest is scanty. The present work is theconsolidated account of the foliicolous fungi knownfrom this area.Origin of Silent Valley: The evolutionary age of theSilent Valley evergreen rain forest is believed to bemore than 50 million years. This is a cliff of forest whichsuddenly descends from the Nilgiri plateau to the plainsof Kerala with a sudden drop in altitude from 2500–150m causes a distance to three to four km.The name ‘Silent Valley’: Silent Valley forestslocally known as Sairandhrivanam, one linked to themythological character, Droupadi in Mahabharata. Alsothe river Kunthipuzha named after Kunthi Devi, motherof Pandavas of Mahabharata, runs through the SilentValley in north-south direction. It is popularly believedthat Pandavas lived here with their consort Droupadi.It is also believed that Silent Valley has been given thename due to the absence of cicada insects which usuallyproduce a distinct sound in tropical forests. However,cicadas have started to inhabit in these forests.Image 1. Silent Valley - A symbol of silence3706Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 05 March 2013 | 5(3): 3701–3788