Epichloë fungal endophytes play a fundamental role in New Zealand grasslands

Figures & data

Figure 1. Breakdown of New Zealand’s grass flora (family Poaceae) into native and naturalised species; subfamilies (Pooideae vs. non-Pooideae); and Pooideae tribes known globally to host species infected with Epichloë fungal endophytes. Values in parentheses are approximate percentages of total grass species in New Zealand. Based on Edgar and Connor (2000).

Figure 2. Echinopogon ovatus (hedgehog grass) – the first New Zealand native grass to be identified as a host of Epichloë.

Table 1. Native grasses infected with asexual Epichloë endophytes in New Zealand and Australia (Miles et al. 1998; Moon et al. 2002; Leuchtmann et al. 2019).

Grass host species	Epichloë species	Ancestry of Epichloë
Dichelachne micrantha in New Zealand	E. australiensis	Interspecific hybrid of E. festucae E. typhina subsp. poae
Echinopogon ovatus in Australia	E. australiensis	Interspecific hybrid of E. festucae E. typhina subsp. poae
Echinopogon ovatus in New Zealand & Australia	E. aotearoae	Non-hybrid
Poa matthewsii in New Zealand	E. novae-zelandiae	Interspecific hybrid of E. amarillans E. bromicola E. typhina subsp. poae

Table 2. Tribes of subfamily Pooideae (cool-season grasses), showing those known to be infected with Epichloë, the number of species of these tribes naturalised in New Zealand and those infected with Epichloë.

Pooideae grasses		Pooideae grasses naturalised in New Zealand
Tribes^1	Tribe has species known to be infected with Epichloë^2	Number of species^3	Grass – Epichloë associations
Poeae	Yes	70	Lolium perenne & L. boucheanum – E. festucae var. lolii or E. hybrida^4,6 L. multiflorum & L. boucheanum – E. occultans^4 L. temulentum – E. occultans^4 Festuca arundinacea – E. coenophiala^4 F. pratensis – E. uncinatum^4 or E. siegelii^4,7 F. glauca – E. festucae^5 F. nigrescens – E. festucae^5 F. ovina – E. festucae^5 F. rubra – E. festucae^5
Brachypodieae	Yes	2	None found to date
Bromeae	Yes	15	None found to date
Hordeeae^8	Yes	17	None found to date
Meliceae	Yes	5	None found to date
Stipeae	Yes	14	None found to date
Brachyelytreae	Yes	0
Nardeae	No	1
Ampelodesmeae, Brylkinieae, Diarrheneae, Littledaleeae, Lygeeae, Phaenospermateae	No	0

¹Soreng et al. (2015).

²Schardl (2010) and Tadych et al. (2014).

³Edgar and Connor (2000).

⁴Asexual Epichloë.

⁵Sexual Epichloë.

⁶Campbell et al. (2017).

⁷E. siegelii introduced post-1998 with EPA approval.

⁸Previously Triticeae.

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