Wildflower ‘armors’ itself against disease
Monday, September 13, 2010 - 23:28
in Earth & Climate
An unusual wildflower that accumulates metals in its leaves has been found to use them as a kind of 'armor' against bacterial infection. Alpine pennycress is a small plant in the mustard family that grows on metal-rich soils scattered around Britain and Europe, such as the sites of former mine workings. The plant is known to accumulate zinc, nickel and cadmium to very high concentrations in its leaves, but why it should do this has remained a mystery.