The structure of the cells of the mesophyll and parenchymatous bundle sheath of the Gramineae

By a comparison of the ultrastructural features of the parenchymatous bundle sheath and the mesophyll it can be shown that the grasses can be divided into a number of groups roughly corresponding to those proposed by Brown, viz. Pooid, Eragrostoid, Panicoid, Arundinoid, Bambusoid and Aristidoid. In particular the ultrastructural features strengthen the grounds for separating the eragrostoid type of leaf anatomy from the panicoid type. These ultrastructural differences seem to be correlated with differences in photosynthetic pathways, and, where they do not correlate with the taxonomic divisions, neither do the photosynthetic pathways. The correlation with a taxonomy based on microcharacters as well as macroscopic characters is generally good except in the case of “Phragmitiform” grasses, and in particular the tribe Danthonieae, which seems to require a serious detailed extensive investigation.