The effects of light and darkness on stomatal aperture and guard cell apoplastic pH in the intact leaf and in the isolated epidermal strips of Commelina communis have been investigated. Stomata in the intact leaf opened wide in the light. In contrast, stomata in the isolated epidermal strips did not respond clearly to light. To eucidate the relationship between the stomatal aperture and the guard cell apoplastic pH, apoplastic pH was measured. In the light the guard cell wall of intact leaf was acidified by pH 1.9 units, falling from pH 7.3 to pH 5.4 in the first 10 minutes. On the contrary, apoplastic pH of isolated epidermal strips changed slowly from pH 7.3 to pH 6.9 at 20 min. Stomata in the intact leaf closed rapidly in the dark. On the other hand, stomata in the isolated epidermal strips failed to close in dark. There was a slow increase in apoplastic pH on transfer to the dark after incubation for 1.5 h in the light and the level observed before the experiment was regained after around 40 min. When the isolated epidermal strips were transferred to the dark, apoplastic pH maintained a uniform level of around pH 7.2-7.4. These results indicate that the mechanism of stomatal opening and closing from isolated epidermal strips and intact leaves could be different.