Nickel hyperaccumulating tree

Nickel is an essential element for plant growth, but the amount required is extremely low, and too high a concentration is toxic.

💧 The Pycnandra acuminata tree from New Caledonia is an exception, producing a unique green-blue latex due to nickel accumulation.

📊 It’s hard to put this plant’s capabilities into words, but the numbers show that it is capable of:

• storing up to 257,000 µg/g of nickel, the highest amount among all known organisms,

• accumulate up to 4% nickel in its leaves,

• store up to 300 kg of this element per hectare,

• and withstand nickel concentrations as high as 3,000 µM.

✅ Additionally, the nickel in the plant is exceptionally pure and free of impurities, making it an ideal source of this element.

🔗 Its reduced sensitivity to nickel is due to nickel citrate salts in its lactiferous tubes, which stabilize nickel in a non-toxic form.

🦌 Pycnandra acuminata’s ability to hyperaccumulate is a remarkable defensive adaptation that protects against:

• herbivores - they avoid this plant because of nickel's toxicity.

• pathogens - it limits the growth of organisms that are not resistant to heavy metals.

🌳 The remarkable properties of P. acuminata may contribute to a better understanding of and implementation of bioremediation of sites contaminated with heavy metals.