Muscodor vitigenus is an

endophytic An endophyte is an endosymbiont, often a bacterium or fungus, that lives within a plant for at least part of its life cycle without causing apparent disease. Endophytes are ubiquitous and have been found in all species of plants studied to date; h ...

fungus which colonizes ''

Paullinia paullinioides ''Paullinia paullinioides'' is a flowering plant species in the genus of ''Paullinia'' found in South America. It was first described in 1895, by Ludwig Adolph Timotheus Radlkofer. Description ''Paullinia paullinioides'' is a tropical liana. I ...

'', a

liana A liana is a long- stemmed, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy in search of direct sunlight. The word ''liana'' does not refer to a ta ...

of the Peruvian Amazon rainforests. It has the unusual property of, under certain circumstances, producing near-pure

naphthalene Naphthalene is an organic compound with formula . It is the simplest polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, and is a white crystalline solid with a characteristic odor that is detectable at concentrations as low as 0.08 ppm by mass. As an aromati ...

, an insect repellent.

References

Xylariales Fungus species {{Xylariales-stub

See also

References