Leaf anatomical characters in relation to the C₃ and C₄ photosynthetic pathway in Cyperus (Cyperaceae)

Abstract

Leaf anatomical characters of twelve species from the genus Cyperus, a genus known to contain species with both C3 and C4 plants, have been investigated. We investigated and established the usefulness of all‐inclusive functional leaf anatomical characters for identifying the photosynthetic pathways of these species. The species investigated were C. articulatus L., C. compressus L., C. difformis L., C. dilatatus Schum. & Thonn., C. distans L., C. esculentus L., C. haspan L., C. imbricatus Retz., C. iria L., C. rotundus L., C. sphacelatus Rottb. and C. tenuiculmis (Boeck.) Hooper, collected from locations in southwestern Nigeria. Standard anatomical procedures for examining epidermal and cross sections of leaves were employed. Our data suggested that a combination of characters, such as the occurrence of Kranz tissue, maximum cell distant count, maximum lateral cell count, interveinal distance, and to some extent leaf and mesophyll thickness, provide a reliable basis for the assessment of the photosynthetic pathways of the investigated species as compared to the isolated characters used previously. The study indicate that C. difformis and C. haspan are C3 species while the rest follow the C4 photosynthetic pathway. A salient feature of this study is the identification of C. dilatatus as belonging to the C4 group.

The pros and cons of being broad: recent and future progress of Nordic Journal of Botany

“…Thus, in our most recent volumes you can read about e.g. seed micromorphology (Koksheeva et al , Patil et al , Salimi Moghadam et al ), wood and stem anatomy (Jangid and Gupta , Novikoff and Mitka ), karyology (Hong et al ) and flower ontogeny (Naghiloo et al ), as well as the relative conservation benefits of different management practices (Tälle et al ), interactions between the flora and wild boar (Brunet et al ), ecophysiology of African Cyperus (Ayeni et al ) and allelopathy in Empetrum (González et al ), in addition to many contributions to plant systematics and taxonomy. As for these latter, we have published descriptions of new plant species from almost all parts of the world, e.g.…”