‘fungi that grow inside their host plants without causing visible symptoms’. Latent infection (Sinclair and Cerkauskas, 1996) by pathogens is not considered as endophytic colonization here. T. stromaticum is only found in Latin America, in close association with Theobroma and Herrania, suggesting that it probably co-evolved with the pathogen, M. perniciosa, as a mycoparasite or with the host plant as an endophyte (Hjorth et al., 2003). This intimate relationship with cacao suggests that, besides its action as a mycoparasite, T. stromaticum could also be exploited to induce resistance to diseases and to promote plant growth.