Water mimosa and water hyacinth are the two plants with phytoremediation ability. However, the phytoremediation
abilities of these plants in terms of the heavy metals uptake, the bio-concentration factor and relative growth is rarely being
assessed and reported. Present study aims to compare the phytoremediation ability of water mimosa and water hyacinth.
Both plants were treated with heavy metals i.e. lead, copper and cadmium in the laboratory in a nutrient solution at
concentrations of 0.5 to 20 mg/L. Treated plants were harvested and tested for heavy metals uptake, bio-concentration
factor, the tolerance index and the relative growth rate. The heavy metals concentration in the root, stems and leaves was
also measured in this study. The overall findings have indicated that water mimosa has lower heavy metals uptake and bioconcentration
factor value compared to water hyacinth. Both plants accumulate high heavy metals in the roots compared to
stems and leaves. Both plants use rhizofiltration (accumulate heavy metal in roots) process to remove heavy metals. This
study concludes that both plants have the potential to be commercialized as phytoremediation agent to clean polluted
wate