St John’s Wort as a Possible Tool for Remediation of the Soil Contaminated with Heavy Metals

Heavy metal pollution is a very common problem in the modern society. When concentrated in the soil, heavy metals can easily intoxicate food and water. Therefore, there is a certain risk of a chronic heavy metal exposure, even in the areas with no industrial facilities or pollution. There are many soil remediation solutions in the scientific literature, including herb-mediated ones. This research is focused on the possibility of St John’s wort to become a tool in the remediation of the soil from heavy metal pollution. It is a very widespread plant, which has no specific soil requirements and grows in various areas around the world. In this research, soil where the St John’s wort grows has been intentionally polluted with arsenic (As) cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb), in order to gain insight into the St John’s wort’s heavy metal absorption capacity. As, Cd and Pb concentration in soil and St John’s wort samples were analyzed by ICP-OES. The final results showed that the St John’s wort had the significant absorption level of Cd and Pb.