Alyssum serpyllifolium explained

Alyssum serpyllifolium, the thyme-leaved alison, is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae, native to the western Mediterranean region.^{[1] [2]} It is adapted to serpentine soils.^[3] The Royal Horticultural Society recommends it for rock gardens.^[4]

Description

The flower color is yellow with green stems. Consists of lance-shaped leaves and It's soil requires dry areas, as well as drained areas. This plant is often used to help observe the relationship between hyperaccumulating plants which store and absorb metals in their tissues, vs. non-hyperaccumulating plants.^[5] If soil is contaminated with high concentrations of metals this is likely because of mineral rock weathering or as a result of industrialization. The discovery of the plant's abilities has led to an easier process of detoxification of plant soil caused by mineral rock weathering or industrialization.

Distribution

It is from the family Brassicaceae and is found in southwestern Europe. Alyssum serpyllifolium is mainly found in the Iberian Peninsula, Northeastern Portugal, and in Spain.^[6]

Phytoremediation

One of the features that this plant developed was used to help it adapt to its soil which contains a high concentration of metals. It is considered to be a Metal hyperaccumulator (plants that can tolerate high amounts of metal within their system).^[7] This plant was used in a phytoremediation experiment to absorb the metal contaminated soil. A form of phytoremediation is known as phytoextraction, which removes the metals from the contaminated soil by absorbing the metals through the roots.^[8] It has the ability to uptake a high concentration of metals. This species of plant is a nickel hyperaccumulator, it mainly absorbs high levels of nickel because of the ultramafic rock found in its environment.

Further reading

• Álvarez-López . V. . Puschenreiter . M. . Santner . J. . Lehto . N. . Prieto-Fernández . Á. . Wenzel . W.W. . Monterroso . C. . Kidd . P.S. . 2021 . Evidence for nickel mobilisation in rhizosphere soils of Ni hyperaccumulator Odontarrhena serpyllifolia . Plant and Soil . 464 . 1 . 89–107 . 1573-5036 . 10.1007/s11104-021-04944-7 . 2021PlSoi.464...89A . 10261/259219 . 234877435 . free.
• Manteca-Bautista . David . Pérez-Latorre . Andrés V. . Freitas . Helena . Hidalgo-Triana . Noelia . 2022 . Metal accumulation by Alyssum serpyllifolium subsp. malacitanum Rivas Goday (Brassicaceae) across different petrographic entities in South-Iberian ultramafic massifs: plant-soil relationships and prospects for phytomining . International Journal of Phytoremediation . 24 . 12 . 1301–1309 . 35019784 . 10.1080/15226514.2021.2025206 . 2022IJPhy..24.1301M . 245878711 . 10630/29399 . free.
• Pollard . A. Joseph . McCartha . Grace L. . Quintela-Sabarís . Celestino . Flynn . Thomas A. . Sobczyk . Maria K. . Smith . J. Andrew C. . 2021 . Intraspecific Variation in Nickel Tolerance and Hyperaccumulation among Serpentine and Limestone Populations of Odontarrhena serpyllifolia (Brassicaceae: Alysseae) from the Iberian Peninsula . Plants . 10 . 4 . 800 . 10.3390/plants10040800 . 33921686 . 8073652 . free.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Alyssum serpyllifolium thyme-leaved alison . 2022 . The Royal Horticultural Society . 8 May 2022 . 1 suppliers . 13 May 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220513091526/https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/26570/i-alyssum-serpyllifolium-i/details . live.
2. 277782-1 . Alyssum serpyllifolium Desf. . 8 May 2022.
3. The Evolutionary Genomics of Serpentine Adaptation . 2020 . Konečná . Veronika . Yant . Levi . Kolář . Filip . Frontiers in Plant Science . 11 . 574616 . 10.3389/fpls.2020.574616 . free . 33391295 . 7772150.
4. Web site: Rock gardens: plants . 2022 . The Royal Horticultural Society . 8 May 2022 . 21 April 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220421060116/https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/for-places/rock-gardens . live.
5. Ghaderian . Y. S. Majid . Lyon . Anthony J. E. . Baker . Alan J. M. . 2000 . Seedling Mortality of Metal Hyperaccumulator Plants Resulting from Damping off by Pythium spp. . The New Phytologist . 146 . 2 . 219–224 . 10.1046/j.1469-8137.2000.00645.x . 2588971 . 33862969 . 0028-646X.
6. Sobczyk . M. K. . Smith . J. a. C. . Pollard . A. J. . Filatov . D. A. . 2016-10-16 . 26 October 2016 . Evolution of nickel hyperaccumulation and serpentine adaptation in the Alyssum serpyllifolium species complex . Heredity . en . 118 . 1 . 31–41 . 10.1038/hdy.2016.93 . 1365-2540 . free . 27782119 . 5176119.
7. Web site: Hyperaccumulator - an overview ScienceDirect Topics . 30 November 2023 . www.sciencedirect.com.
8. Peuke . Andreas D. . Rennenberg . Heinz . 2005-06-06 . Phytoremediation . EMBO Reports . 6 . 6 . 497–501 . 10.1038/sj.embor.7400445 . 1469-221X . 1369103 . 15940279.