Annals of Botany

Ian S Gilman, J Andrew C Smith, Joseph A M Holtum, Rowan F Sage, Katia Silvera, Klaus Winter, Erika J Edwards, The CAM lineages of planet Earth, Annals of Botany, 2023;, mcad135, https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcad135

The growth of experimental studies of crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) in diverse plant clades, coupled with recent advances in molecular systematics, presents an opportunity to re-assess the phylogenetic distribution and diversity of species capable of CAM. It has been more than two decades since the last comprehensive lists of CAM taxa were published, and an updated survey of the occurrence and distribution of CAM taxa is needed to facilitate and guide future CAM research. We aimed to survey the phylogenetic distribution of these taxa, their diverse morphology, physiology and ecology, and the likely number of evolutionary origins of CAM based on currently known lineages.