ABSTRACT
Mycorrhizae are the associations between the roots of plants and fungi. The great majority of plants have a mycorrhizal association and it is thought to have been vital in the initial colonization of land. Mycorrhizal associations are known in the rhizoids of bryophytes and the gametophytes of spore-bearing vascular plants as well as in the roots of all groups of vascular plants, except perhaps the horsetails. Their effects are profound on many aspects of plant life. Mycorrhizae
Types of mycorrhiza
Mycorrhizae occur in most land plants. There are three categories: endomycorrhizae, the commonest form, which penetrate the cortical cell walls in roots; ectomycorrhizae, characteristic of temperate trees, which form a sheath around the absorbing roots; and ectendomycorrhizae, consisting of several specialized types with both structures. A few plant groups have no mycorrhizae. The fungi mostly fruit underground except for some ectomycorrhizae.
