Se

Selenium

Hyperaccumulation threshold: 100 µg g⁻¹ [ref] Tracked

Selenium hyperaccumulators, chiefly North American Astragalus and Stanleya, convert selenium into organic forms and volatile compounds. They are important in both seleniferous-rangeland toxicology and biofortification research.

8 species recorded in this database; highest cited value 14,920 µg g⁻¹.

Metal Region Uptake Verify
Astragalus bisulcatustwo-grooved milkvetch Fabaceae Se Selenium 13,685 136.8× North America (western) Obligate primary
Astragalus racemosuscreamy poison-vetch Fabaceae Se Selenium 14,920 149.2× North America (Great Plains) Obligate review
Cardamine hupingshanensis Brassicaceae Se Selenium 1,965 19.6× China (Enshi, Hubei) Facultative primary
Coelospermum decipiensMapoon bush Rubiaceae Se Selenium 1,463 14.6× Australia (Queensland, Cape York Peninsula) Obligate primary
Machaeranthera tanacetifoliaTanseyleaf tansyaster Asteraceae Se Selenium 1,500 15× USA (western Great Plains and Southwest) Facultative primary
Neptunia amplexicaulis Fabaceae Se Selenium 13,600 136× Australia (Queensland) Obligate primary
Stanleya pinnataprince's plume Brassicaceae Se Selenium 4,000 40× North America (western) Obligate review
Symphyotrichum ericoidesWhite heath aster Asteraceae Se Selenium 3,000 30× USA (western; Colorado seleniferous shale, Pine Ridge) Facultative primary

Selenium news & analysis

Research, industry and conservation context for Selenium hyperaccumulation and phytoremediation.

New species

Cardamine hupingshanensis wires selenium stress into ABA and cold signaling through U-box E3 ligases

August 23, 2026 · Wang et al. (2026), BMC Genomics 27:291

A genome-wide scan of the selenium-tolerant Brassicaceae Cardamine hupingshanensis finds 114 U-box E3 ubiquitin ligases, several strongly induced by selenium and physically linked to ABA receptors and the cold-stress regulator ICE1 — hinting that selenium homeostasis is managed by repurposed stress-signalling hardware.

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Literature

A selenium plant's glutathione toolkit explains how it tolerates selenium — not how it hoards it

August 15, 2026 · Xie, Chen, Liu, Gao, Liang, Chen, Xiang, Chen, Hou, Lu, Tang & Zhou (2026), Plant Science

A selenium plant's newly catalogued glutathione-S-transferase toolkit — 61 genes and three selenium-responsive Tau enzymes that shield cells from oxidative damage — is a survival system, not an uptake pump, and that distinction decides whether the trait is any use to selenium agromining.

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