Identification of the heavy metals accumulator plants in surrounding area of mine

Accumulation of heavy metals in selective locations of the environment has been attracting considerable public attention over the last decades. The conventional clean-up technologies to extract and remove heavy metals from mining sites are either inadequate or too expensive for developing countries. This study evaluated the potential of 15 species growing on a contaminated site in a mining area. The case study was represented by a mining area in kordestan province in the North West part of Iran. This study showed that the most of sampled species were able to grow on heavily metal-contaminated soils and also were able to accumulate extraordinarily high concentrations of some metals such as As, Cd, Ni, Cr, Mn and Se. Based on the obtained results and using the most common criteria, Salvia spinosa can be classified as hyperaccumulator of some measured heavy metals and, therefore, it has suitable potential for phytoremediation of contaminated soils.