Letter: New database for metal and metalloid accumulating plants

Plants that can accumulate metals or metalloids in their living tissues to extremely high levels (hyperaccumulators) can be used to model metal uptake and biotic interactions and used for phytoremediation, among other uses. While the uses for hyperaccumulators are vast, until now a database with global coverage of hyperaccumulators has been lacking. The new Global Hyperaccumulator Database (www.hyperaccumulators.org), under the administration of the Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation of The University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia), contains information about all known metal and metalloid hyperaccumulator species, including taxonomy, distribution, ecology, collection records, analytical data, and reference information. This database gathers data that is difficult to locate, provides information that has not been published in open literature, keeps nomenclature changes up to date and raises awareness of threatened hyperaccumulator species. As of July 2017, the database contains 721 species and continues to grow, as the discovery of hyperaccumulators is easier with new technologies. (Summary by Julia Miller) New Phytol. 10.1111/nph.14907