Geographical and ecological outline of metal(loid) accumulating plants in Italian vascular flora

The decontamination of heavy metal polluted soils is one of the major challenges that our industrialized world has to face. Remediation technologies are being developed and employed in order to reduce the potential hazards of metal and metalloid contamination. Plants capable of uptaking metals and metalloids in their tissues can be an effective tool to remove such pollutants from contaminated soils. The use of this plant-driven process (Phytoremediation) requires the knowledge of the right phytoextractors to use when facing different types of contamination. The aim of this paper is to provide an inventory of phytoextractors that can be used in Phytoremediation procedures in Italy. The checklist includes 172 native or non-invasive alien accumulating and hyperaccumulating plants. An ecological outline of the accumulating flora was done by using the Ellenberg indicator values (EIVs). The high ecological plasticity of these species in different environmental conditions offers a wide spectrum of phytoextractors to choose from for any phytoremediation procedure