For many contaminated sites, the goal is not to remove every milligram of lead but to stop it from moving. Danh, Truong, Mammucari, Tran & Foster (2009) made the case that vetiver grass, Chrysopogon zizanioides, is a practical and economical choice for that job.
Why vetiver fits the problem
Vetiver is a C4 perennial with a dense, vertically oriented root system that can extend several metres deep. It tolerates acidity, salinity, drought, flooding, and a wide range of heavy metals. Those traits make it less a hyperaccumulator than a living cap: roots bind soil, reduce erosion, and sorb metals onto root surfaces and root-exudate complexes, lowering the fraction of lead available for leaching or dust transport.
The economic argument
In their follow-up cost analysis, the same group estimated that vetiver-based remediation of lead-, copper-, and zinc-contaminated soils could be markedly cheaper than excavation and landfill disposal. The savings come from avoiding soil removal, transport, and off-site treatment. Harvested biomass can also be processed for energy or fibre, though metal-laden material would need careful handling.
The honest boundary
Vetiver does not translocate large amounts of lead to shoots. Its value is phytostabilisation, not phytoextraction. For sites where the priority is risk reduction rather than rapid decontamination, that is a feature, not a limitation. The same root density that immobilises lead also builds soil structure and can prepare a site for later, more extractive plantings.
This analysis is grounded in the cited primary source. See our methodology for how phytostabilisation studies are evaluated.