Six hundred and forty six taxa of Brassicaeae were inoculated under glasshouse conditions with Glomus intraradices SCHENCK & SMITH root inoculum and assessed after 5 weeks for vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizal (V AM) development. Of the 649 taxa, 123 (18.9%) showed some level of VAM development. Chi-square analysis showed no significant differences in VAM development between annuals and perennials. Analysis of published reports of mycorrhizal development in crucifers also failed to demonstrate any relationship between VAM development and life span in crucifers. VAM development in these plants included only internal hyphae and vesicles; no arbuscules were observed in any of the 3230 root segments examined. These data suggest that VAM development in crucifers is probably non-functional and that life span characteristics do not affect the apparent VAM development in glasshouse inoculated specimens.