In the present study, we focused on soil and plant metal concentrations
in an agricultural and residential area around a former battery
recycling plant. Numerous studies have reported that this kind of smelter
is a source of Pb contamination in the surrounding soils (Cala and
Kunimine, 2003; Ramírez, 2008). Therefore, as the vegetal community
growing around the smelter represented a great opportunity to study
native plant suitability for phytoremediation of lead contaminated
soils, the purpose of this study was to investigate lead transfer to native
species and their potential application to soil phytoremediation.