The Diversity of Endophytic Fungi in Kemaitan (Lunasia amara Blanco)

Abstract All plants in natural ecosystems appear to be symbiotic with fungal endophytes. Endophytes are especially little known in tropical forest trees, which their abundance and diversity are thought to be greatest. This research aims to identify the diversity endophytes fungal in the shoots, leaves and stem of Kemaitan (L. amara). There are 180 endophytic fungi were isolated using a modified Photita’s method, by isolating in their shoots (34 isolates), leaves (70 isolates), and stems (76 isolates), which categorized in 37 morphospecies. The number of morphospecies endophytic fungi found on stem was higher (24 morphospecies) than on shoot and leaf (22 morphospecies). The index value of endophytic fungi on Kemaitan’s stem (3.050) was considered as high diversity, while on shoots (2.966) and leaves (2.911) were classified as moderate diversity. The index value dominance of endophytic fungi was categorized as low criterion. The evenness levels on stem, leaf, and shoot of Kemaitan were categorized into high level. The level similarity if endophytic fungi is categorized as low similarity.