Heavy metal contamination is considered a major environmental
hazard and has been regarded as a contributing factor to forest decline
(Hüttermann et al., 1999). Cadmium is one of the most toxic
heavy metals (Courbot et al., 2004). It is easily taken up by plants
and its hazardous effects are well documented (Colpaert and Van
Assche, 1993; Krznaric et al., 2009). Soil contamination by this
metal has been rising due to the increase of anthropogenic activities
(Kim et al., 2004b) and therefore efficient strategies of plant protection
for reforestation are of utmost importance. Aiming to overcome
such environmental hazard, the scientific community has been
strongly focused on the selection of the most suitable plants to face
contamination. Nevertheless, it is important that reforestation programs
are based in the use of specific indigenous trees as a way to
preserve the whole ecosystem; additionally, these species are often
the most suitable species to cope with the local environmental
constrains.