Symphyotrichum ericoides
White heath aster
Synonyms: Aster ericoides, Virgulus ericoides
Accumulation profile
- Substrate
- Seleniferous (Cretaceous/Eocene shale)
- Habitat
- Seleniferous prairie and badlands, western United States
- Distribution
- USA (western; Colorado seleniferous shale, Pine Ridge)
- First reported
- 2014 · El Mehdawi et al.
- Verification
- primary-measured
Description & ecology
VALUE AS STATED AT SOURCE (El Mehdawi et al. 2014, Physiol. Plant. 152:70–83, doi:10.1111/ppl.12149, abstract): in a comparative greenhouse study S. ericoides accumulated Se 'up to 3000 mg Se kg-1 DW'; in the field it contained hyperaccumulator levels (>1000 mg/kg DW) only when growing next to other Se hyperaccumulators.
US field site: seleniferous habitat at Pine Ridge, Colorado. ~86% of Se stored as C-Se-C compounds (methyl-selenocysteine), consistent with a genuine hyperaccumulation phenotype. Independent confirmation in El Mehdawi, Paschke & Pilon-Smits 2015, New Phytol. 209 (nph.13164).
Classified Facultative because intrinsic hyperaccumulation was demonstrated in greenhouse while field hyperaccumulation appears facilitated by neighbouring hyperaccumulators.
Se hyperaccumulation threshold 100 µg g⁻¹ (van der Ent 2013); value is ~30× threshold.
References
- El Mehdawi, A. F., Reynolds, R. J. B., Prins, C. N., Lindblom, S. D., Cappa, J. J., Fakra, S. C., & Pilon-Smits, E. A. H. (2014). Analysis of selenium accumulation, speciation and tolerance of potential selenium hyperaccumulator Symphyotrichum ericoides. Physiologia Plantarum, 152, 70–83. doi:10.1111/ppl.12149