[blinky2088]

Just a thought.

A hyperaccumulator is a plant that generally lives and thrives in soils that are too contaminated/toxic by heavy metals for most other plants to live. They are able to uptake some of these metals via their roots and distribute them to their leaves. Some of these heavy metals may include high concentrations of; nickle arsnic, mercury, gold etc.

Very few plants fit this category. and some suggest hyperaccumulators would help to recondition toxic soils to safer levels and therefore the water table or increasing mining products by harvesting the leaves for tehse precious metals

I have seen many pictures of Bucephelandra with a metallic shine to them similar to a metallic paint job on a car. I have never seen this shine on any other plants including some of the known hyperaccumulators but they are still relatively new and still being discovered. I am curious to know if Bucephelandra uptake more heavy metals then most other plants.

Minerals have been mined in Borneo for over 100 years including Gold and arsenic was used for processing the gold.

What are your experiences with Buces? Are the new leaves showing the same metallic shine as when you first received them?

I dont think all Buce's will have this same shine it may depend on the varient??? or possibly location where they were found?

 

[AirstoND]

I'd appreciate seeing pictures with "metallic shine" or chemical analysis to correlate it. My understanding is metals are complexed and need to be reduced to metal by heat treatment/electro-plating to remove oxygen, hydrogen, & carbon.

Most plants evolve utilizing hyperaccumulation to adapt to getting required nutrients and prevent herbivores, eventually like all things, too much of something will become toxic or unmanagable. I don't know if shine is byproduct, but I think shininess affects light for photosynthesis.