The Kranz syndrome in the Eragrostideae (Chloridoieae, Poaceae) as indicated by carbon isotopic ratios.

PANARELLO, H.0.; SANCHEZ, E.

BOTHALIA

Government Printer

Lugar: Johannnesburg, Sud Africa; Año: 1985 vol. 15 p. 587 - 590

0006-8241

ABSTRACT 13C/12C ratios are generally regarded as being very reliable indicators of C3 or C4 photosynthesis. These relative carbón isotope ratios are expressed as a negative δ13C and fall into two distinct groups: Kranz (or C4) plants with 6 between -9‰ and-18‰ and non-Kranz (C3) plants with 6 between -22‰ and -28‰. In this paper, 29 taxa, representing 12 genera, of the tribe Eragrostideae were examined by mass spectrometry for their δ13C in dried leaf tissue. All these taxa proved to be C4 plants with δ13C valúes ranging between -13,6‰ and -10‰. These findings confirmed published leaf anatomical observations which showed that all the studied taxa had characteristic Kranz leaf anatomy.