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Language: English
From the preface:
"This Handbook is intended to provide a systematic account of the macrofungi in different forest ecosystems of the Kerala part of the Western Ghats. The Kelala State represents an epitome of the Western Ghats in many respects and the diverse types of forest ecosystems support a unique assemblage of biological communities including macrofungi. High rainfall. immense litter load on the forest floor together with a tropical humid climate provide a conducive environment for the growth and development
of macrofungi on different substrates. However, information on macrofungi of the State is very meagre and limited to certain groups of Agaricales. Though I have worked on polypores of the Western Ghats during 1980s, most of the time in my research career has been devoted to plant pathogenic microfungi. At the fag-end of my career, an ambitious project on macrofungi of this region was undertaken to bring out a systematic account of these fungi. Representative forest areas in different forest ecosystems were systematically surveyed and more than 4 000 macrofungal specimens were collected and processed. Altogether 550 rnacrofungal species belonging to 166 genera under 51 families were identified and described. Of these, a large number of genera and species are reported for the first time from India; more than 360 species are new records from the State and 15 new taxa are described. The recent taxonomic concept based on the emerging information on molecular phylogenetic data has been followed, and taxa have been rearranged and described. More than 800 colour photographs of macrofungi taken by me are included in this treatise; more than 400 microscope-phototube drawings inked by me were also included."
