Solanum nigrum · Atlas of Contaminated Sites

How it works

Mechanisms: hyperaccumulationphytoextraction

Contaminants

Contaminant	Evidence	What was shown
Cadmium	field	Identified as a Cd hyperaccumulator in the Shenyang area, with more than 100 mg/kg Cd in leaves (124.6 mg/kg in the original paper, as reported by later literature) (Wei et al. 2005). In a vegetable field with 0.53–0.97 mg/kg Cd, in 90 days it removed about 10% of Cd from the 0–20 cm layer, and about 20% with extraction-assisting agents; Chinese cabbage grown afterwards was edible (Niu et al. 2015). Wei et al., A newly-discovered Cd-hyperaccumulator Solanum nigrum L., Chin. Sci. Bull. 50:33, 2005 Niu et al., Remediation and safe production of Cd contaminated soil via multiple cropping hyperaccumulator Solanum nigrum L. and low accumulation Chinese cabbage, Int. J. Phytoremediation 17:657, 2015

Contaminant

Evidence

What was shown

field

Identified as a Cd hyperaccumulator in the Shenyang area, with more than 100 mg/kg Cd in leaves (124.6 mg/kg in the original paper, as reported by later literature) (Wei et al. 2005). In a vegetable field with 0.53–0.97 mg/kg Cd, in 90 days it removed about 10% of Cd from the 0–20 cm layer, and about 20% with extraction-assisting agents; Chinese cabbage grown afterwards was edible (Niu et al. 2015).

Limits

The trials concern soils with low cadmium (under 1 mg/kg); the sources consulted have no field data at higher concentrations. It is a weed with toxic berries: it must be harvested before it sets seed. The biomass contains cadmium and cannot go back to the soil.