New species of metal-eating plant found in the Philippines The new species was found on the western part of the Luzon Island in the Philippines Read more: http://www.sciencerecorder.com/news/new-species-of-metal-eating-plant-found-in-the-philippines/#ixzz31QiZUX9s

A new species of metal-eating plant has been found in the Philippines. According to Professor Edwino Fernando of the University of the Philippines, Los Baños, the new plant species can accumulate up to 18,000 ppm of the metal in its leaves without itself being poisoned.
Called Rinorea niccolifera, the new species of metal-eating plant has the ability to absorb nickel in extremely high quantities. This ability  is known to exist in only approximately 0.5-1 percent of plant species native to nickel-rich soils.
Rinorea niccolifera was found on the western part of the Luzon Island in the Philippines, an area famous for its soils rich in heavy metals.
“Hyperacccumulator plants have great potentials for the development of green technologies, for example, ‘phytoremediation’ and ‘phytomining,’” says co-author Dr. Augustine Doronila of the School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne.
According to LiveScience, phytomining “uses plants to extract particles of the precious metal from soil.” Phytoremediation, on the other hand, is the “direct use of green plants and their associated microorganisms to stabilize or reduce contamination in soils, sludges, sediments, surface water, or ground water,” according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
The study’s findings are described in greater detail in the journal PhytoKeys.


Read more: http://www.sciencerecorder.com/news/new-species-of-metal-eating-plant-found-in-the-philippines/#ixzz31QiSEnhc