Is Agaricostilbum  palmicola,  an endophytic fungus?

I have two fully grown, yellow-dwarf variety coconut trees, in my residential compound, which yield quite well round the year. These were planted in 2003, the seedlings of which I brought from ICAR research station in Old Goa. Though dwarf variety, the trees have now grown to a height of about 12 M. The yield has been continuously good and we use the tender-coconuts as a refreshing soft-drink.  When mature, we harvest the ripened coconuts and use partly in the making of vegetable curries and the rest as sun-dried copra for oil extraction. We get about 15-20 litres of coconut oil annually and, from any standard, these are undoubtedly very high-yielding coconut trees. Thanks to the ICAR station, Old Goa, the source of my coconut trees!  I often take evening strolls in my terrace and watch these mighty ‘kalpavriksh’... They brighten my mind and thinking...!

   

In the yester years, plant- parts of my coconut trees have yielded several microfungi, an area of my research interest.  Recently, I saw some white powdery masses on intact and dried inflorescences on my coconut tree top. I pulled one of those and examined under a hand-lens. Interesting enough, the white powdery expansive patches were microscopic, fruiting bodies of a synnema-like fungus called Agaricostilbum, belonging to Basidiomycota.  

Agaricostilbum palmicola was described by J. Wright in 1970 (Mycologia 62: 680) and again in 1981 (Mycologia 73: 880) as a saprobic, synnema-like basidiomycete on fallen coconut leaves. I have examined the fungus under a light microscope and presence of clamp connections at the base of the synnema confirms its basidiomycete affinity.  What puzzles presently is its habitat affinity.  Originally described as a saprobe on fallen coconut spathe, the fungus is now seen on tree top on intact senescent inflorescence... I am guessing that  Agaricostilbum palmicola is actually an enduring endophyte in coconut trees, world over..... We need further investigations to prove this... 

D. Jayarama Bhat