RHOEO DISCOLOR, A MEDICINAL PLANT WITH PHYTOREMEDIATION POTENTIAL.

Rhoeo discolor is a plant used in traditional medicine mainly due to its anticancer properties. The present work studied, for the first time, its use as a phytoremediation plant. Samples of R. discolor were collected in the gardens of the Universidad Ju?rez Aut?noma de Tabasco. Chrysopogon zizanioides (vetiver), a phytoremediation plant, was used as positive control. Both plants were exposed for 144 h to leachates from a sanitary landfill for urban waste. Afterwards, they were washed, dried and pulverized. Specimens of each species were left unexposed to leachates to use as negative controls. Elements were identified and quantified by X-rays and by ICP. The elements identified in R. discolor exposed to leachates were quartz, CaCO3 and thiocyanate. Arsenic, lithium, Lead, and Thallium were identified at concentrations that were only 1.4 times lower than those found in vetiver, except for Tl (445.71 and 326.33 mg/kg in R. discolor and vetiver, respectively). In both evaluated species, exposure to leachates was associated with an increase in the concentration of Cu, K, Mn, Ni and S. In R. discolor and vetiver, the concentration of S increased 25 and 6 times, respectively. It was concluded that R. discolor has potential as a phytoremediation plant.