Sixteen strains of ericoid mycorrhizal endophytes isolated from hair roots of Rhododendron pulchrum were classified with rDNA ITS sequenc. The sequence similarities and genetic distances among the strains were calculated based on the rDNA ITS sequences from 16 strains, and neighbour-joining phylogenetic tree were produced by the ITS sequences of the 16 strains and known ericoid mycorrhizal strains from GenBank. The result showed that 16 strains could be divided into three groups in the phylogenetic tree. Seven strains were identified as Oidiodendron sp., two strains were clustered with several unidentified root-associated mycorrhizal fungi of Ericaceae plants and the other seven strains were grouped with several unnamed ericoid mycorrhizal fungi. Based on the results of fresh mount of hair roots stained with trypan blue, 16 fungal strains were initially identified as ericoid mycorrhizal (ERM) fungi with typical ericoid mycorrhizal coils in epidermal cells of hair roots. All the 16 mycorrhizal strains showed obviously beneficial to growth of the seedlings, and the average height and biomass of the inoculated seedlings were both higher than that of control.