Chionanthus panamensis
Accumulation profile
- Substrate
- Ultramafic (ophiolitic serpentinite) and nearby non-ultramafic soils
- Habitat
- Lowland forest
- Distribution
- Guatemala (Izabal), Mexico (Chiapas)
- First reported
- 2024 · Disinger et al.
- Verification
- primary-measured
Description & ecology
First Ni hyperaccumulator reported for Oleaceae in Central America. Herbarium XRF showed a bimodal distribution: most specimens near/below LOD, but Guatemalan and Chiapas populations reached >6,000 mg kg⁻¹; field ICP-AES confirmed a maximum of 6,810 mg kg⁻¹ Ni in leaves (Disinger et al. 2024).
Facultative: hyperaccumulation is population-specific, linked to ultramafic-derived soils in the Guatemala Suture Zone.
References
- Disinger, H. P., Navarrete Gutiérrez, D. M., Díaz Reyes, A. M., Rodas Duarte, R., Quezada, M. L., van der Ent, A., Baker, A. J. M., Echevarria, G., & Pollard, A. J. M. (2024). Herbarium and field studies of nickel hyperaccumulator plants from ultramafic soils in Guatemala. Ecological Research, 39, 838–851. doi:10.1111/1440-1703.12495
- 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