Glomus aggregatum

Glomus aggregatum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Glomeromycota
Class:	Glomeromycetes
Order:	Glomerales
Family:	Glomeraceae
Genus:	Glomus
Species:	G. aggregatum
Binomial name
Glomus aggregatum

Glomus aggregatum is an arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus used as a soil inoculant in agriculture and horticulture.

History

In 1939, Edwin John Butler described a Glomus aggregatum-like organism, but a name was not assigned to this species until 1943, when C.O. Rosendahl further elaborated the specifics on what he dubbed Rhizophagites butleri Rosendahl.^[1] Rosendahl wrote of his discovery of grouped (or clustered) sporangia on thick-walled, branched hyphae recovered from disturbed soils in Minnesota.^[2] Over the course of the next 40 years, various researchers were able to isolate similar fungal spores (typically in areas with sand based soils), but it wasn't until 1982 that G. aggregatum was first described. N.C. Schenck and George S. Smith were the researchers who made this discovery (in Florida Citrus groves) and their description was very similar to that of R. butleri and other fungi in the Glomus fasciculatum complex, however, it was still thought to be a different species than R. butleri.^[3] Further research was conducted, and after comparing extensive amounts of fungal spores, a conclusion was reached that G. aggregatum and R. butleri are in-fact the same species of fungi.^[1]

References