Chlorophyll-deficient Lespedeza procumbens

A native plant of Lespedeza procumbens with yellow, chlorophyll-deficient leaves was discovered near Tallahassee, Florida. When selfed this plant yielded only yellow offspring. Normal, green plants of L. procumbens contained about 5.5 times more chlorophyll (dry weight basis) than yellow plants. At high light intensities photosynthetic rates on a chlorophyll basis in yellow plants were 3 to 8 times greater than in green plants. Chloroplasts in yellow plants did not possess high-stacked grana, and the thylakoids displayed unusual "cross channels" reported previously only in Cassia [7] and Rhodopseudomonas [15]. Chlorophyll deficiency in Lespedeza closely parallels that reported in yellow (Su/su) tobacco [11]. The present paper is the most detailed report on chlorophyll deficiency in a wild plant, all comparable work having been done on cultivars.