Tl

Thallium

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

Thallium is exceptionally toxic, and a handful of Brassicaceae, notably Biscutella laevigata and Iberis intermedia on mineralised soils, hyperaccumulate it. The group is small but significant for the phytoextraction of one of the most toxic heavy metals.

7 species recorded in this database; highest cited value 79,200 µg g⁻¹.

Metal Region Uptake Verify
Biscutella laevigatabuckler mustard Brassicaceae Tl Thallium 19,400 194× Europe (Alps and mineralised districts) Facultative primary
Brassica oleraceakale (var. acephala) Brassicaceae Tl Thallium 6,280 62.8× Cultivated (experimental) Facultative primary
Iberis intermediacandytuft Brassicaceae Tl Thallium 4,000 40× Southern France Facultative primary
Silene latifoliawhite campion Caryophyllaceae Tl Thallium 79,200 792× Italy, North Macedonia (Allchar) Facultative primary
Viola allchariensis Violaceae Tl Thallium 23,100 231× North Macedonia (Allchar) Facultative primary
Viola arsenica Violaceae Tl Thallium 58,900 589× North Macedonia (Allchar) Facultative primary
Viola tricolor subsp. macedonica Violaceae Tl Thallium 10,800 108× North Macedonia (Allchar) Facultative primary

Thallium news & analysis

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

Literature

The excluders out-armor the hyperaccumulators at Allchar — Knautia caroli-rechingeri runs 405 mg g⁻¹ of a single caffeoylquinic acid while the thallium violets get by on flavonoid glycosides

October 19, 2026 · Cvetanoska et al. (2026), Chemistry & Biodiversity

A first metabolomic survey of six plants endemic to North Macedonia's Allchar Tl–As–Sb deposit finds that the species excluding metals from their shoots run vastly larger polyphenol arsenals than the shoot hyperaccumulators — and, more awkwardly, that none of the chemistry tracks thallium at all.

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Literature

Where the thallium hides — synchrotron microtomography shows Biscutella laevigata detoxifying in leaf epidermal vacuoles, and a pot-to-field gap stalks the economics

September 25, 2026 · van der Ent et al. (2026), Annals of Botany

Synchrotron X-ray fluorescence microtomography shows Europe's classic Tl hyperaccumulator sequestering the metal in the vacuoles of leaf epidermal cells and at trichome bases — but the same lab's 2024 companion study found the opposite pattern in roots, and field plants run an order of magnitude below the species' famous 1.94% pot record.

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Literature

Kale crystallizes thallium chloride on its leaf veins — a halophyte-style detox trick that makes the crop both a poison and a potential ore

September 21, 2026 · Corzo-Remigio et al. (2026), Metallomics

Synchrotron microdiffraction on living kale leaves shows the plant sequestering leaf thallium as ~5 µm cubic TlCl crystals near its hydathodes — a salt-excretion strategy borrowed from halophytes that simultaneously explains kale's food-safety hazard and hints at an unexpectedly simple metallurgy for thallium phytomining.

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