A metal that’s hard to digest

Carnivorous plants are not the only ones threatened by pollution caused by human activity. However, a type of contamination that is entirely specific to them has been discovered by British researchers.

Cadmium is one of the heavy metals used in industry, but also in agriculture, in certain fertilisers. Unlike other chemical elements such as copper, which is not stored in plant tissues, cadmium accumulates and causes poisoning, according to an experiment carried out on Sarracenia leucophylla.

How does this metal reach carnivorous plants? Quite simply via the insects they capture for food, which have themselves been contaminated by cadmium during their lifetime and thus become its vectors.