Scientists from the University of the Philippines Los Ba?os (UPLB) have
discovered a new plant on the western part of Luzon Island that eats nickel.
The plant, called Rinorea niccolifera, accumulates up to 18,000 ppm of
nickel in its leaves without being poisoned, an amount which is a hundred or
a thousand times higher than in most other plants. Nickel hyperaccumulation
is rare among plants, with only about 450 species known to have this unusual
trait.

Drs. Edwino Fernando and Marilyn Quimado from the UPLB College of Forestry
and Natural Resources, and Dr. Augustine Doronila from the University of
Melbourne School of Chemistry are co-authors of the study. Dr. Doronila
said, "Hyperacccumulator plants have great potentials for the development of
green technologies, for example, ?phytomediation' and 'phytomining'."

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