THE UPTAKE AND ACCUMULATION OF COPPER BY <i>BECIUM HOMBLEI</i> (DE WILD.) DUVIG. &amp; PLANCKE

Abstract

S ummary Becium homblei , a flowering plant of the family Labiatae indigenous to Zambia, has been found to grow on soils contaminated with high levels of copper. The plant is capable of accumulating more than 100 ppm of the metal in its leaves and roots. Serial extraction of the plant tissue with various solvents has shown that much of the accumulated metal is tightly bound within the plant and is not in free solution in ionic form. The finding that increased copper content is accompanied by an increase in total nitrogen suggests that the metal may be bound as a complex with protein in the plant tissue.