The Kranz syndrome in the Eragrostideae (Chloridoideae, Poaceae) as indicated by carbon isotopic ratios*
13C/12C ratios are generally regarded as being very reliable indicators of C3 or C4 photosynthesis. These relative carbon isotope ratios are expressed as a negative δ 3C and fall into two distinct groups: Kranz (or C4) plants with δ between -9°/00 no and -18°/00 and non-Kranz (C3) plants with δ betw...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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South African National Biodiversity Institut
1984-12-01
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| Series: | Bothalia: African Biodiversity & Conservation |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://abcjournal.org/index.php/abc/article/view/1852 |
| Summary: | 13C/12C ratios are generally regarded as being very reliable indicators of C3 or C4 photosynthesis. These relative carbon isotope ratios are expressed as a negative δ 3C and fall into two distinct groups: Kranz (or C4) plants with δ between -9°/00 no and -18°/00 and non-Kranz (C3) plants with δ between -22°/00 and -280/00 no. In this paper, 29 taxa, representing 12 genera, of the tribe Eragrostideae were examined by mass spectrometry for their δ 13C in dried leaf tissue. All these taxa proved to be C4, plants with δ13C values ranging between -13,6°/oo and -10.9°/oo. These findings confirmed published leaf anatomical observations which showed that all the studied taxa had characteristic Kranz leaf anatomy. |
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| ISSN: | 0006-8241 2311-9284 |