Photosynthesis: Temperate and Tropical Characteristics within a Single Grass Genus

Abstract
Leaves of two subgenera of Panicum differ in photosynthetic physiology and bundle sheath characteristics. Species of the subgenus Eupanicum, like other tropical grasses, had high phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (E.C.4.1.1.31) activity, had specialized chloroplasts within the parenchyma bundle sheath cells, and lacked phatorespiration. The pattern for the temperate subgenus Dichanthelium was opposite.