this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2026
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Woo, grasses! Let's hear it for C4 photosynthesis! ๐
C3 grasses in shambles rn
Ooooh this is something I don't know about! I'm guessing c3, c4 are classes and how things photosynthesize differently. Can you direct me to some reading materials?
Does it have anything to do with how some succulents turn red with sun stress?
C3 and C4 refer to the number of carbon atoms in the sugar that the plants create through photosynthesis, so you're close. I took biology 1 at a community college a few years ago and we talked about this.
C3 plants are under threat by climate change while C4 plants are able to adapt to a warming planet. Which is scary because most of our crops are C3, like wheat, rice, and barley. Corn is C4 so we might be eating a lot more corn in the future.
Edit: changed molecules to atoms