Biodiversity of endophytic fungi in leaves of carissa carandas linn. from Central Region of Madhya Pradesh.

Carissa carandas Linn, a widely used medicinal plant in India, were exploited for endophytes as a possible source of bioactive secondary metabolites. All isolates were identified based on colony morphology and examination of spores and fruiting bodies using stereo and light microscopes. Total 126 endophytic fungi of 12 genera were isolated from 300 segments of fresh Carissa caranda leaves collected from central region of Madhya Pradesh, India. The endophytic fungi recovered belong to ascomycetes (6.34%), coelomycetes (15.07%), hyphomycetes (51.58%) and sterile mycelium (26.98%) each. The most dominant endophytes observed were Aspergillus flavus (12.69%), Trichoderma spp. (11.11%) and Pestalotiopsis spp. (10.31%).