Accumulation of Fluoride by Plants: Potential for Phytoremediation

Fluoride pollution is now recognized as a global problem. The reason fluorides are considered as serious contaminants even when they are present at low levels is that they persist for a long time in air, soil, and water and exert negative effects at all levels of an ecosystem. Thus, immediate attention is the need of the hour to remediate the environment from F pollution. Till date, the conventional methods have been developed primarily to remove F from water. These methods are very slow and expensive. Besides, not much research has been done so far to remediate F from soil. This review focuses on the uptake and accumulation of F by certain aquatic and land plant species. Exploring these plants by analysis of their tissues for accumulated contaminants may open up several opportunities to be utilized to remediate F rich water and soil.