REE

Rare Earth Elements

Hyperaccumulation threshold: 1,000 µg g⁻¹ ΣREE [ref] Primary

Rare earth element (lanthanides plus Y and Sc) hyperaccumulation is an emerging field led by ferns of the genus Dicranopteris and several Phytolacca species. A formal threshold is still being refined; a working cut-off of 1,000 µg g⁻¹ total REE is used here following the trace-element convention.

10 species recorded in this database; highest cited value 4,278 µg g⁻¹ ΣREE.

Metal Region Uptake Verify
Blechnopsis orientalisoriental blechnum Blechnaceae REE Rare Earth Elements 4,278 4.3× China, Southeast Asia Facultative primary
Carya glabrapignut hickory Juglandaceae REE Rare Earth Elements 2,300 2.3× USA (eastern) Facultative review
Carya tomentosamockernut hickory Juglandaceae REE Rare Earth Elements 1,350 1.4× USA (eastern) Facultative hypothesized
Dicranopteris flexuosa Gleicheniaceae REE Rare Earth Elements 2,780 2.8× Neotropics; USA-occurring (SE US / Florida, Puerto Rico) Facultative primary
Dicranopteris linearisold world forked fern Gleicheniaceae REE Rare Earth Elements 3,500 3.5× South China, Southeast Asia Obligate primary
Gleichenella pectinata Gleicheniaceae REE Rare Earth Elements 1,447 1.4× Neotropics; USA-occurring (Florida, Puerto Rico) Facultative primary
Phytolacca americanaAmerican pokeweed Phytolaccaceae REE Rare Earth Elements 1,040 1× North America, naturalised in China Facultative primary
Pronephrium simplex Thelypteridaceae REE Rare Earth Elements 1,500 1.5× South China Facultative hypothesized
Sticheropsis milnei Gleicheniaceae REE Rare Earth Elements 1,290 1.3× Australasia (Papua New Guinea; described from Milne Bay material) Facultative primary
Sticherus flabellatusshiny fan-fern Gleicheniaceae REE Rare Earth Elements 1,130 1.1× Australia (eastern) Facultative primary

Rare Earth Elements news & analysis

Research, industry and conservation context for Rare Earth Elements hyperaccumulation and phytoremediation.

Literature

Pokeweed sorts the lanthanides by size — heavy rare earths slip out of the leaf veins and into vacuoles

September 14, 2026 · Liu et al. (2026), Industrial Crops and Products

Spatially resolved LA-ICP-TOF-MS mapping and subcellular fractionation show that Phytolacca americana partitions heavy rare earths away from leaf-vein walls and into mesophyll vacuoles (vacuolar share 5.5% → 14.5% across the series) — the first mechanistic picture of HREE-selective hyperaccumulation, and a reminder that the plant's value lies as much in *which* lanthanides it loads as in how many.

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Industry

REE phytomining only adds up if the biomass becomes the product, not the concentrate

August 21, 2026 · Huang, Xie, Rylott, van der Ent, Liu, Morel, Baker, Wang, Tang & Qiu (2026), Communications Earth & Environment

A new perspective argues that rare-earth phytomining becomes economically viable only when the harvested biomass is upcycled into fertilizers or catalysts rather than processed into separated rare-earth oxides — turning co-accumulated calcium, silicon and aluminium from impurities into ingredients.

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