Isolation of Streptomyces finlayi from the rhizoplane of Egyptian clover (Trifolium alexandrinum).

A representative strain (531) of green streptomycetes occurring in the root surface region of Egyptian clover (Trifolium alexandrinum) was identified as a typical strain of Streptomyces finlayi, a species which seems capable of living, in loose protocooperative or commensalistic association, also with soil invertebrates (Szabó 1974). In the aerial mycelium of strain 531, spore-chains both with a typical hairy sheath and without a sheath (smooth spores) were observed. According to our present and previous observations the release of spores after the disruption of the hairy sheath seems to be a frequently occurring phenomenon in the aerial mycelium of many strains of S. finlayi.