Down on the Farm That Harvests Metal From Plants (NYTimes)
"Hyper-accumulating plants thrive in metallic soil that kills other vegetation, and botanists are testing the potential of phytomining. Some of Earth’s plants have fallen in love with metal. With roots that act practically like magnets, these organisms flourish in metal-rich soils that make hundreds of thousands of other plant species flee or die. Slicing open one of these trees or running the leaves of its bush cousin through a peanut press produces a sap that oozes a neon blue-green. "