Abstract
Leaves on a bush of Hyptis emoryi Torr. varied in length from less than 1 cm when development occurred in full sunlight (e.g. 40 Mjoules m−2) to over 7 cm when the total daily solar irradiance was less than 3 Mjoules m−2. The 1-cm sun leaves were 3-fold higher than the 7-cm shade leaves in chlorophyll per unit area, mesophyll thickness, and the internal to external leaf area ratio (Ames/A). The higher Ames/A caused a 1.2-cm leaf to have a 3-fold lower CO2 liquid phase resistance than did a 7.1-cm leaf. Large thin shade leaves captured photosynthetically active radiation effectively (less than 7% passed through), but were not adapted to full sunlight. Specifically, when a 6.9-cm leaf was placed at 910 w m−2 for 30 min, its temperature exceeded that of the air by nearly 8 C. For the common daytime air temperatures above 30 C for this desert shrub, large shade leaves would have temperatures far in excess of that optimum for photosynthesis for H. emoryi, 29 to 32 C.
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Selected References
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