First report of Preussia africana for Iranian mycoflora

In order to identify the endophytic fungi of some plants of the family Asteraceae, samples of Achillea filipendulina Lam. were collected from Golestan province (Iran) in spring 2016. The plants were rinsed gently with running water, and then were cut into 0.5–1 cm pieces. The surface sterilization was done by sodium hypochlorite (1.5–2.5% NaOCl), followed by 75% ethanol. The surface sterilized samples were placed on Potato-Dextrose-Agar (PDA, Merck, Germany) containing 50 ppm tetracycline, and incubated at 25±2 ºC for 30 days. After purification, endophytic fungi was cultured on PDA and OMA (Oat Meal Agar) and exposed to 12 hr cycles of UV light and daylight for 14 days to stimulate sporulation. Their identification was based on morphological studies (Ahmed & Cain 1972, Arenal et al. 2005, Asgari & Zare 2010, Kornerup & Wanscher 1989). The method for measuring asci and ascospores and the terminology used for the descriptions are those used by Ahmed & Cain (1972).