Dicranopteris linearis
old world forked fern
Synonym: Dicranopteris dichotoma
Accumulation profile
- Substrate
- Ion-adsorption REE clays and acidic soils
- Habitat
- Disturbed slopes and mine tailings
- Distribution
- South China, Southeast Asia
- First reported
- 2021 · Liu et al.
- Verification
- primary-measured
Description & ecology
The best-documented rare-earth hyperaccumulator, central to interest in phytomining ion-adsorption REE deposits in southern China.
Value revised 2026-08-09: the long-carried figure of 3,358 µg/g could not be traced to any readable primary for this species — a third-vendor audit traced it to Wang et al. (1997) for Dicranopteris dichotoma, a taxon GBIF treats as distinct (often lumped with D. linearis in the Chinese literature — the same lumping this record's synonym list reflects).
Promoted to primary-measured 2026-09-06: all three cross-vendor reviewers independently read the open-access full text of Liu et al. (2021, Annals of Botany 128:17–30, PMC8318256) and confirmed verbatim that field pinnae from ion-adsorption REE mine tailings (Ganzhou, Jiangxi) contained 3500 ± 330 µg g⁻¹ ΣREE (Table 1; bulk ICP-MS). This is a MEAN ± SE of three individual plants, not a maximum — individual plant values are not reported anywhere in the paper — so the stored figure is a conservative floor and the true foliar maximum is likely higher (reviews cite up to ~0.3 wt%). The record keeps the value with this caveat explicit rather than substituting an unsourced 'maximum'.
References
- Liu, W.-S., Laird, J. S., Ryan, C. G., Tang, Y.-T., Qiu, R.-L., Echevarria, G., Morel, J.-L., & van der Ent, A. (2021). Rare earth elements, aluminium and silicon distribution in the fern Dicranopteris linearis revealed by µPIXE Maia analysis. Annals of Botany, 128, 17-30. doi:10.1093/aob/mcab026
- 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