Phosphorus shallow donors having the symmetry lower than T-d are studied by pulsed EPR. In diamond:P and 3C-SiC:P, the symmetry is lowered to D-2d and the density of the donor wave function on the phosphorus atom exhibits a predominant p-character. In 4H-SiC:P with the site symmetry of C-3v, the A(1) ground state of the phosphorus donors substituting at the quasi-cubic site of silicon shows an axial character of the distribution of the donor wave function in the vicinity of the phosphorus atom. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.