Biscutella laevigata
buckler mustard
Accumulation profile
- Substrate
- Thallium/zinc mineralised soils
- Habitat
- Calamine and mine soils
- Distribution
- Europe (Alps and mineralised districts)
- First reported
- 1999 · LaCoste et al.
- Verification
- primary-measured
Description & ecology
Promoted and corrected 2026-08-23: LaCoste et al. (1999, International Journal of Phytoremediation 1:327–338, DOI 10.1080/15226519908500023) report Biscutella laevigata accumulating 1.94% Tl (19,400 µg g⁻¹) in above-ground dry tissue from St Laurent le Minier, southern France. The previous 15,200 µg g⁻¹ figure was an untraceable rounding; the earlier citation to Leblanc et al. 1999 was incorrect because that paper reports Iberis intermedia, not Biscutella.
Anderson et al. (1999, Journal of Geochemical Exploration 67:407–415) independently report Biscutella at >1.5% Tl from the same district.
Reaches extraordinary foliar thallium on mineralised soils in southern France, making it a key species for thallium phytoextraction.
Corrected 2026-09-25 (was 'Obligate'): van der Ent et al. (2026, Annals of Botany, DOI 10.1093/aob/mcag306) describe B. laevigata as a facultative thallium hyperaccumulator whose hyperaccumulating populations are known from Les Malines (France, diploid) and Cave del Predil (Italy, tetraploid) — consistent with Salinitro et al. 2024 (mcae115) and earlier population surveys treating hyperaccumulation as population-specific. The 1.94% maximum is a Tl-amended pot-trial value; field maxima at the same district are far lower (Leblanc 1999 ~495 µg g⁻¹; Escarré 2011 ≤1,490 µg g⁻¹ DW). The European field record is ~32,700 µg g⁻¹ DW from Raibl, Italy (Fellet et al. 2012).
References
- LaCoste, C., Robinson, B., Brooks, R., Anderson, C., Chiarucci, A., & Leblanc, M. (1999). The phytoremediation potential of thallium-contaminated soils using Iberis and Biscutella species. International Journal of Phytoremediation, 1, 327-338. doi:10.1080/15226519908500023
- Reeves, R. D., Baker, A. J. M., Jaffré, T., Erskine, P. D., Echevarria, G., & van der Ent, A. (2018). A global database for plants that hyperaccumulate metal and metalloid trace elements. New Phytologist, 218, 407–411. doi:10.1111/nph.14907
- van der Ent, A., Baker, A. J. M., Reeves, R. D., Pollard, A. J., & Schat, H. (2013). Hyperaccumulators of metal and metalloid trace elements: facts and fiction. Plant and Soil, 362, 319–334. doi:10.1007/s11104-012-1287-3