AbstractAssociation‐analyses were made of montane grasslands (patanas) of Sri Lanka using higher plant and soil microfungal data. Stand classifications derived from higher plants and microfungi were remarkably parallel and were in complete agreement with the tentative division of patanas into five major types. The ecological distinctiveness of the five patanas was further evident from the phytosociological affinities of species indicated by classifications of higher plants and microfungi. Multivariate analyses of higher plants and fungi from the same ecosystem are regarded as alternative approaches which provide more information together than alon