Gas exchanges and related leaf traits of three co-occurring species of genus Cypripedium (C. yunnanense Franch., C. guttatum SW., and C. flavum P.F. Hunt et Summerch.) were investigated in a scrubland at 3 460 m a.s.l. in the Hengduan Mountains. The considered species had similar photosynthetic responses to photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) and air temperature. The photosynthetic capacity (Pmax), carboxylation efficiency (CE), apparent quantum efficiency (AQE), PPFD-saturated rate of electron transport (Jmax), respiration rate (RD), and leaf nitrogen content per unit area (LNC) of C. guttatum were higher than those of C. yunnanense and C. flavum. The highest Pmax of C. guttatum was related to the highest LNC and the lowest ratio of intercellular CO2 concentration to atmospheric CO2 concentration (Ci/Ca). However, no significant differences in stomatal conductance (gs) and relative stomatal limitations (RSL) were observed among the three species. Hence biochemical limitation had a dominant role in
Pmax differences among the considered species. and S. B. Zhang ... [et al.].