The plants like 'eat' poison

Watercress is " addicted " to heavy metals. Many other rabies also grow as fast as when being " eaten " by high toxicity such as zinc, nickel .

Heavy metals are always considered to be the top toxic substances for plants and animals, but they are a favorite for many plants. They absorb and accumulate heavy metals in body parts.

Since the end of the 19th century, scientists have discovered that watercress (hyperaccumulators) know how to eat metal from the soil. In the trunk of this plant there is a large amount of zinc. Later, it was discovered that about 20 rabid species of this family enjoyed the ' cup ' of heavy toxic metals such as nickel and zinc. " Eating " those poisonous items, they don't die but grow as fast as they blow.

Wild flowers with the scientific name Alyssum bertolonii also have similar preferences. It has the ability to absorb up to 200 times the amount of nickel that can kill most other plants.

Wild aromatic plants grow wild in Vietnam.(Photo: SK & D)

Chinese scientists discovered a species of fern, belonging to the oldest plant family in the world and grows a lot in wild nature, there is also a ' knack for eating heavy metals ' like copper and arsenic. . On the leaves of this fern has 0.8% of arsenic content, hundreds of times higher than normal, but the tree is still good.

Arsenic is stored in ferns by ferns on the trunk. The more plants grow, the more arsenic ' need ' is, and they are inherited the ability to ' eat ' poisons to future generations.

Recently, Vietnamese scientists have discovered a wild plant called guava with the ability to absorb heavy metals 100 times higher than normal and grow very fast. The favorite of this plant is lead. They can " eat " 500-1,000 times the amount of lead, even up to 5,000 times that of normal plants without being affected. Guava is considered super absorbent of lead and cadmium.

Until now, scientists have counted about 400 species of 45 plants that have the ability to ' eat ' heavy metals (the concentration accumulated in the trunk is hundreds of times higher than normal) without being affected. moving to life. When accumulating high levels of heavy metals, no insects would dare to eat them.

Detoxification for the environment

Scientists are aiming to use the heavy metal characteristics of some plants to improve their living environment.

The European Environment Agency compared the economic efficiency of traditional methods of handling heavy metals in soils and plant use methods at 1.4 million pollution locations. The results showed that the use of poison saplings saves more than 1,000 times.

In addition, when harvesting 'metal' plants, people can get precious metals such as nickel and gold . and this is also a significant economic resource.