Plant, tree
Pycnandra acuminata
Blue sap tree
A New Caledonian tree (described as Sebertia acuminata) whose blue-green latex is more than a quarter nickel by dry weight. With this species, in 1976, the term hyperaccumulator came into use.
How it works
- Mechanisms
- hyperaccumulation
- Native range
- New Caledonia
Contaminants
| Contaminant | Evidence | What was shown |
|---|---|---|
| Nickel | field | Wild trees on ultramafic soil: 25.74% nickel in the latex (dry weight), as a soluble low-molecular-weight organic complex (Jaffré et al. 1976). Nickel sits mainly in the laticifers; about 40% is bound to citrate and a single mature tree holds, by the authors' estimate, 37 kg (Sagner et al. 1998). |
Limits
It is not a remediation plant: it is a rainforest tree on ultramafic soils, and the sources consulted report no cultivation trials for phytoextraction. It is listed here for its historical and physiological interest.
Sources
- Jaffré et al., Science 193:579, 1976
- Sagner et al., Phytochemistry 47:339, 1998
- Jaffré et al., The discovery of nickel hyperaccumulation in the New Caledonian tree Pycnandra acuminata 40 years on, New Phytol. 218:397, 2018
Draft compiled from public sources, not yet reviewed.
Other species for the same contaminants
Species that the literature reports acting on at least one of this one's contaminants, the closest first.
