Studies of Plants Useful in the Re-Cultivation of Heavy Metals-Contaminated Wasteland - a New Hyperaccumulator of Barium?

The strategy of re-cultivation of wasteland contaminated with heavy metals based on phytoremediation was proposed. The ability of plants that colonized the investigated area to uptake pollutants from soils and their translocation to aboveground organs was examined. The metals mobility and bioavailability was assessed based on a single extraction with water and solutions of hydrogen peroxide and EDTA. A new hyperaccumulator of barium – great mullein (Verbascum densiflora) – useful in the phytoextraction process, was identified.