A fern that extracts metals from soil
The Blechnum orientale fern reportedly extracts rare-earth element (REE) metals from the ground.
Phytominining uses hyperaccumulator plants to extract metals from soil.
A team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences reports finding a naturally forming REE hyperaccumulator plant - in their paper, Discovery and implications of a nanoscale rare earth mineral in a hyperaccumulator plant, in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.
The team says the REE minerals crystallise within extracellular tissues under ambient conditions, forming dendritic nanocrystals through biologically induced mineralisation coupled with a non-equilibrium self-organisation process.
They claim, 'This represents the novel discovery of REE mineral crystals formed in living plants through a phytomineralisation (i.e., plant-mediated mineralization) process.
'Our findings uncover a previously unrecognised, plant-mediated pathway for critical mineral formation in a supergene environment.'
As well as providing more information on the REE enrichment and sequestration during chemical and biological weathering, the team believe this finding explores new possibilities for the direct recovery of functional REE materials.
