- Studies on Phytoextraction Processes and Some Plants’ Reactions to Uptake and Hyperaccumulation of Substances

Phytoremediation can be broadly de—ned as the utilization of vascular plants, algae, and fungi to control, breakdown, or remove wastes, or to encourage degradation of contaminants in the rhizosphere, or root region of the plant (McCutcheon and Schnoor 2003). In other words, it refers to a diverse collection of plant-based technologies that use either naturally occurring or genetically engineered plants for cleaning contaminated environments (Cunningham et al. 1997; Flathman and Lanza 1998).