Metal cotolerance to cooper, lead, and zinc in Festuca rubra

Tillers of red fescue (Festuca rubra) were collected from three copper-contaminated sites: Prescot (Lancashire, near the copper refinery factory), Great Orme (Clwyd, copper mine), and Ecton (Staffordshire, copper mine), as well as from an uncontaminated area (Festuca rubra S59). By comparing their indexes of tolerance, it was discovered that tillers from Ecton which contained a rather high level of copper, lead, and zinc were tolerant to all three metals. This variety of F. rubra would be useful for reclaiming nonferrous mine spoils which contain a high level of the three commonly occurring heavy metals, i.e., copper, lead and zinc. Copyright © 1982 Published by Elsevier Inc.