Arsenic hyperaccumulator Pteris Vittata L. and its arsenic accumulation

An arsenic hyperaccumulator Pteris vittata L. (Chinese brake) was first discovered in China by means of field survey and greenhouse cultivation. Field survey showed that Chinese brake had large accumulating capacity to arsenic; the orders of arsenic content in different parts of the fern were as follows: leaves>leafstalks>roots, which is totally different from that of ordinary plants; bioaccumulation coefficients of the above ground parts of the fern decreased as a power function of soil arsenic contents. In the control of pot trials with normal unpolluted soil containing 9mg/kg of arsenic, the bioaccumulation coefficients of the above ground parts and rhizoids of Chinese brake were as high as 71 and 80 respectively. Greenhouse cultivation in the contaminated soil from mining areas has shown that more than 1 times greater arsenic can be accumulated in the leaves of the fern than that of field samples with the largest content of 5070 mg/kg As on a dry matter basis. During greenhouse cultivation, arsenic c