Dimorphic chloroplasts in the epidermis of Podostemoideae, a subfamily of the unique aquatic angiosperm family Podostemaceae

Plants of the Podostemoideae, a subfamily of the unique aquatic angiosperm family Podostemaceae, which are found in rapids and waterfalls of the tropics and subtropics, have two different sizes of chloroplasts in their epidermis. These small and large chloroplasts are located separately in each epidermal cell along its upper and inner tangential walls, respectively. This is the first case of the chloroplast dimorphism in a single epidermal cell of angiosperms. While the large chloroplasts have well developed starch grains, the small chloroplasts have a normal granal ultrastructure but very few starch grains. This suggests that the small chloroplasts mainly function in CO2 uptake for photosynthesis from torrential water.