This tree bleeds toxic metal

NEW CALEDONIA: A rare rainforest tree that grows on the island of New Caledonia in the South Pacific bleeds a highly toxic metal when it is cut by the bark.  

According to the details, when the bark of Pycnandra acuminata is cut, it bleeds, oozing out a  bright blue-green latex that contains up to 25 per cent nickel, a metal highly poisonous to most plants.

If these metal-containing plants are dried and burned to ash, they can yield extremely rich, high-grade metal ore, generating far less pollution and using far less energy than needed in conventional mining.

Dr Antony van der Ent, a researcher at the University of Queensland told BBC, “Pycnandra acuminata is a large (up to 20m tall) rare rainforest tree, restricted to remaining patches of rainforest in New Caledonia.”

“As a test-subject it is challenging because it grows very slowly, and it takes decades to get it to produce flowers and seeds. It is threatened by deforestation as a result of mining activities and bush fires.”

“The evolution of hyperaccumulation has evolved many times over in very different families, and likely has taken millions of years. These plants are found on naturally metal-enriched soils,” the researcher added.

It could be a way to protect against insect attacks or perhaps to resist fungal infections.