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Senecio Conrathii N.E.Br. (Asteraceae), A New Hyperaccumulator Of Nickel From Serpentinite Outcrops Of The Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa, Stefan Siebert, Nadine Carol Schutte, Stoffel Pieter Bester, Dennis Mmakgabo Komape, Nishanta Rajakaruna

Biological Sciences

Five nickel hyperaccumulators belonging to the Asteraceae are known from ultramafic outcrops in South Africa. Phytoremediation applications of the known hyperaccumulators in the Asteraceae, such as the indigenous Berkheya coddii Roessler, are well reported and necessitate further exploration to find additional species with such traits. This study targeted the most frequently occurring species of the Asteraceae on eight randomly selected serpentinite outcrops of the Barberton Greenstone Belt. Twenty species were sampled, including 12 that were tested for nickel accumulation for the first time. Although the majority of the species were excluders, the known hyperaccumulators Berkheya nivea N.E.Br. and B. zeyheri …