Rarity of all sorts piques the curiosity of humans. Rare objects, whether discoveries of
natural origin or artifacts of cultures, are avidly sought by collectors and are treasured …

Phytomining is the production of acrop'of a metal by growing high-biomass plants that
accumulate high metal concentrations. Some of these plants are natural hyperaccumulators …

Background Plants that accumulate metal and metalloid trace elements to extraordinarily
high concentrations in their living biomass have inspired much research worldwide during …

Plants growing in metal-enriched substrates take up metals to varying degrees in response
to external and internal factors. The tacit assumption that a plant can thus act as an …

Bioharvesting of metals from high biomass crops grown in soil substrates particularly those
associated with sub-economic mineralization is termed phytomining. It is a recent more …

Wide-ranging studies of hyperaccumulators of Ni from tropical soils of ultramafic origin were
first carried out by the late Professor Robert Brooks and his co-workers in the mid-1970s …

Before any other influences began to fashion life and its lavish diversity, geological events
created the initial environments--both physical and chemical--for the evolutionary drama that …

Extraordinary uptake (hyperaccumulation) of nickel (Ni), reaching concentrations of 0.1–
5.0%, about 1000-times greater than those usually found in flowering plants, has been …

Experiments were carried out in Italy on the potential use of the hyperaccumulator Alyssum
bertolonii in phytomining of ultramafic soils for Ni. In situ experimental plots at Murlo …

The plant species of both natural and human-influenced metalliferous soils are being
increasingly studied, both as ecosystems in there own right, and with a view to identifying …