Phyllanthus rufuschaneyi
Accumulation profile
- Substrate
- Ultramafic (serpentine)
- Habitat
- Ultramafic forest edge
- Distribution
- Borneo (Sabah)
- First reported
- 2018 · Bouman et al.
- Verification
- primary-measured
Description & ecology
Promoted and corrected 2026-08-09: the species description (Bouman et al. 2018, Botanical Studies 59:9, open access, read at source) reports field old-leaf Ni of 11,470–25,060 µg/g (mean 16,490; n=21; Table 2) — 'up to 2.50 Wt%' — from the natural ultramafic habitat near Kinabalu Park, Sabah. The previously stored 13,000 appears nowhere in the primary and was provenance-less.
Ripe seeds reached 17,570 µg/g Ni (n=1) — a non-foliar tissue, recorded here only as a note, never as the comparable maximum.
Named for hyperaccumulation pioneer Rufus Chaney, this Bornean shrub is a leading candidate crop for tropical nickel agromining.
References
- Bouman, R., van Welzen, P., Sumail, S., Echevarria, G., Erskine, P. D., & van der Ent, A. (2018). Phyllanthus rufuschaneyi: a new nickel hyperaccumulator from Sabah (Borneo Island) with potential for tropical agromining. Botanical Studies, 59, 9. doi:10.1186/s40529-018-0225-y
- 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