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In the leaves (but not corms) of the submerged aquatic plant Isoetes taiwanensis, both in the field and greenhouse, malic acid concentration fluctuates from 10-13mg/gfw in the morning to 1-3 mg/gfw in the evening. Associated with this is a change in pH (a. m. pH 3-4 vs. p. m. pH 5-6) and titrable acidity (220-20 ueq/gfw change in acidity between morning and evenign) of the plant extract, It is obvious that Isoetes taiwanensis is a CAM plant. The change of malic acid and titrable acidity are decreased when the leaves emerged. It is suggested that CAM in Isoetes taiwanensis may be related to the lower availability of CO2 for photosynthesis during the day than during the night, and short time high intensity light. The stomata are closed when the leaf submerged; and open when the leaf emerged. After 2 hours the leaf expose to air, the open ratio is 100%; but when the leaf submerged again, the closed ratio is only about 85% after 10 hours. We find the movement of guard cells are controlled by the subsidary cells from the S. E. M. and paraffin method''s observations.
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