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Title: SCREENING LANDSCAPE PLANTS FOR THEIR ABILITY TO ACCUMULATE NITROGEN AND PHOSPHOROUS

Author
item POLOMSKI, ROBERT - CLEMSON UNIV
item TAYLOR, MILTON - CLEMSON UNIV
item WHITE, SARAH - CLEMSON UNIV
item WHITWELL, TED - CLEMSON UNIV
item KLAINE, STEPHEN - CLEMSON UNIV
item BRIDGES, WILLIAM - CLEMSON UNIV

Submitted to: HortScience
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/31/2005
Publication Date: 7/1/2005
Citation: Polomski, R., Taylor, M., White, S., Whitwell, T., Klaine, S., Bridges, W. 2005. Screening landscape plants for their ability to accumulate nitrogen and phosphorous. Hortscience. July 2005. v.40,p.1049.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Commercial nurseries use large amounts of water and nutrients during production cycles. Runoff contaminated with N and P can adversely impact surface and groundwater quality. A 3-year monitoring study of nutrient mitigation by constructed wetland at a container nursery found nitrogen removal was highly efficient. However, orthophosphate-P removal was highly variable. Partial removal occurred during some months, but net export also occurred. P levels in wetland discharge-between 0.84 and 2.75 ppm-were well above the generally accepted level for preventing downstream eutrophication. Therefore, identifying landscape plants that remediate nutrients, especially P, could be useful in improving constructed wetlands. A 2003 greenhouse study screened commercially available landscape plants for their phytoremediation potential. Among 17 taxa and 19 cultivars examined were woody shrubs, e.g., Cornus amomum, Myrica cerifera 'Emperor', and Salix integra 'Hakura Nishiki'; herbaceous semiaquatics, e.g., Canna (two cultivars), Colocasia esculenta 'Illustris', Rhyncospora colorata, Iris 'Full Eclipse', Pontederia cordata 'Singapore Pink', and Thalia geniculata 'Red Stem'; and floating aqutics, e.g., Myriophyllum aquaticum, Eichhorina crassipes, and Pistia stratiotes. Plants were grown in pea gravel media and kept saturated with one of five concentrations of Hoagland's. Herbaceous and woody plants were harvested after 8 and 13 weeks, respectively. Experiments were replicated twice for each cultivar. The nutrient uptake efficiency was determined for each taxon from the total amount of N and P applied and the biomass dry weight and N and P content.