Abstract
On the basis of Kranz type leaf anatomy, 107 species in 11 families out of 682 species in 47 famines surveyed were identified as C4 plants. The families in which C4 representatives were found ¡nclude the Aizoaecae, Amaranthaecae, Boraginaceac, Compositae, Convolvulaceae, Cyperaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Gramineae, Nyctaginaceae, Portulacaceae, and Zygophyliaceae. Several of the species identified have not been reported in previously published lists of C4 plants.
The presence of C4 photosynthesis was restricted to plants of herbaceous life form from open habitats. When the altitudinal distributions of C3 and C4 representatives in the 11 C4 families were compared, relative abundance of C4 species and elevation were found to be highly correlated. The possible reasons for this are discussed.
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