permaculture

[Sridharan D V <goodnewsindia@gmail.com>]

vetiver is a reasonably well tested plant species to attempt
phytoremediation. the plant has so many other uses that i call it the
'green duct-tape.'
www.vetiver.org is a good site to browse.
here is an extract from a paper by paul truong a vetiver veteran:
http://www.vetiver.org/ICV3-Proceedings/AUS_mercury.pdf

"The  Vetiver  System  was  first  developed  for  soil  and  water
conservation  in  farmlands.
While  this  application  still  plays  a  vital  role  in
agricultural  lands,  recent  R&D  have  demonstrated that  vetiver
grass  is  also  highly  suitable  for  phytoremedial  application
due  to  some  of  its extraordinary features. These include a massive
and  deep  root  system,  tolerance  to  extreme  climatic variations
such  as  prolonged  drought,  flood,  submergence,  fire,  frost  and
 heat  waves.  It  is  also tolerant  to  a  wide  range  of  soil
acidity,  alkalinity,  salinity,  sodicity,  and  elevated  levels  of
 Aluminium, Manganese, and heavy metals such as Arsenic, Cadmium,
Chromium,  Nickel,  Lead, Zinc, Mercury, Selenium and Copper in the
soil."

and here is a page of search results for phytoremediation from that site:
http://tinyurl.com/6kec4v8

hope this helps
-dv
-- 
http://pointreturn.org   ...the point is to return

On Thu, Nov 3, 2011 at 6:40 AM, Rob Crook <crookkohler@bellsouth.net> wrote:
> Lawrence,
>
> It may be possible to phytoremediate the site using plants.