: An overlooked lineage of diverse endophytes.

is a taxonomically neglected discomycete genus () of commonly encountered saprotrophs on decaying plant tissues throughout temperate regions. The combination of indistinct morphological characters, more than 700 names in the literature, and lack of reference DNA sequences presents a major challenge when working with . Unidentified endophytes, including strains that produced antifungal or antiinsectan secondary metabolites, were isolated from conifer needles in New Brunswick and placed with uncertainty in and , necessitating a more comprehensive treatment of these genera. In this study, morphology and multigene phylogenetic analyses were used to explore the taxonomy of , including , , and related genera, using new field collections, herbarium specimens, and accessioned cultures and sequences. The phylogeny of was reconstructed and compared using the nuc internal transcribed spacer rDNA (ITS) barcode and partial sequences of the 28S nuc rDNA (LSU) gene, largest subunit of RNA polymerase II (), DNA topoisomerase I (), and the hypothetical protein Lipin/Ned1/Smp2 (). The results show that endophytism is common throughout the lineage in a diverse range of hosts but is infrequently attributed to because of a paucity of reference sequences. Generic boundaries within are poorly resolved and based on phylogenetic evidence the family included species placed in , , , , , , , , , , , (=), and Taxonomic novelties included the description of five novel species and five novel species and the synonymy of with , with , and with .