Dark Fixation of CO2 by Succulent Leaves: Conservation of the Dark Fixed CO2 Under Diurnal Conditions.

Abstract

Detached leaves of Bryophyllum calycinum are able to fix, in the dark, large amounts of C14O2 in the form of organic and amino acids. When these leaves are exposed to light in the absence of C14O2, radioactivity is found in the carbohydrate fraction. The dark-fixed CHO2 is efficiently conserved and metabolized during subsequent photosynthetic reactions.