Phellinus is a genus of fungi belonging to the family Hymenochaetaceae from order Aphyllophorales. Many species of Phellinus cause white rot. Phellinus spp. causing white rot of various kinds in live standing or dead gymnospermic and angiospermic wood occurs worldwide. A total number of 427 species of Phellinus are reported worldwide while only 96 species are reported from India. The current study was based on thorough Indian literature survey for the host range of Phellinus species. About 51 plant families shows infection of Phellinus spp. Amongst all the families, genera of Caesalpiniaceae are found to be most susceptible, followed by Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, Meliaceae, Pinaceae, Mimosaceae, Rubiaceae, Sapindaceae, Moraceae and Myrtaceae are also amongst the most frequently infected families. Mangifera is the most frequent host of Phellinus.

Cassia fistula L. is a peculiar Fabaceae representative that has long been used in traditional medicine. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of Cassia fistula L. herbal extracts in the form of solutions of a certain concentration on the smooth muscles of the intestine. The design of the experiment involved the identification of raw materials, their drying, grinding, extraction of soluble fractions, purification of aqueous, ethereal (diethyl ether) and ethanol extracts and their testing on the tissues of the ileum of the domestic chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus L.) extracted ex vivo. It was shown that the ethereal, ethanol and aqueous extracts of Cassia fistula L. fruits showed a generally high relaxation activity in comparison with the control relaxation stimulants, leaf extracts showed a more modest relaxation activity, a similar situation was observed during testing of extracts of young shoots, and aqueous extracts showed more modest results, while the alcoholic and ethanol extracts of young shoots performed better than the corresponding leaf extracts, and the most modest results in terms of a dose sufficient for a physiological response were demonstrated by root extracts. The initial assessment of the activity of Cassia fistula L. extracts makes it possible to identify as the most promising for further chemical study the pools of substances concentrated in the ethanol extract of fruits, which exhibit the minimum effective dose, in the ether extracts of fruits and bark, which demonstrate the shortest reaction time, and in aqueous extracts of young shoots and cortex showing the highest percentage increase in activity in comparison with the control.

The aim of this study is to test the effect of aqueous, ethereal and alcoholic extracts of the fruit bodies of the wood-destroying fungus Inonotus rickii on locomotor activity resulting from contraction of both cross-striated and smooth muscles. The pharmacological activity of I. rickii raw materials was determined in vitro using the dose-response curve method (smooth muscles) and in experiments with oral intake of extracts (CNS-mediated effects on cross-lacing muscles). The aqueous extract of fungal material showed an increase in the motor activity of smooth muscles compared to standard caffeine, which indicates the ability of fungal extract to have a stimulating effect on the synapses. It was found that I. rickii extracts have an effect on smooth muscle contraction similar to the acetylcholine. It was shown that the greatest stimulating activity demonstrates an aqueous extract that may be a result of inhibitory effect of diethyl ether and ethanol on synapses. The described effects put on the agenda both the fractionation of active extracts and further experiments on the therapeutic applications of their described properties. As a field of possible application of this kind of substances can be considered the cardiovascular remodeling, the maintenance of smooth muscle tone during a number of surgical interventions, and the palliative cure of disseminated cancers.

The first on-line fungal website from India has been launched with seven databases of Indian fungi containing 7528 specimen records representing 384 families, 1385 genera, and 5906 species. Every species has been given a unique identity number that can be cited in any publication. Every record in this database has the name checked in MycoBank, and will be linked to other fungal databases throughout the World. This is also the first Indian initiative towards the international documentation of the country's biodiversity.