https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5c09617

https://en.people.cn/n3/2025/1107/c90000-20387622.html

A research team at the CAS Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry has discovered the biomineralization of rare earth elements in the fern Blechnum orientale. The plant efficiently absorbs and concentrates rare earth elements from soil, precipitating them in the vascular bundles and epidermal tissue of its leaves in the form of nanoparticles, and further crystallizing them into phosphate rare earth minerals. This process is actually a self-protective mechanism of the fern.

An application example: monazite is an important rare earth ore in industry, but natural monazite is often associated with radioactive uranium and thorium, posing challenges to its mining and application. However, the “bio-monazite” formed by *Ceratophyllum demersum* under normal temperature and pressure conditions during its natural growth is pure and radiation-free, showing great potential for green extraction.

The researchers expect that by planting hyperaccumulating plants such as *Adiantum capillus-veneris*, high-value rare earth elements can be recovered from the plants while remediating polluted soil and restoring the ecology of rare earth tailings, achieving a green circular model of “remediation and recovery simultaneously.”