This discovery could revolutionise how critical materials are sourced and could offer a “green” alternative to traditional mining.

Rare earth elements are essential components in modern technology, for example for smartphones and laptops to hi-tech lasers. But getting them can be a problem, as traditional mining is usually dirty and environmentally destructive.

The plant in question is an evergreen fern named Blechnum orientale. The samples were picked and transported from rare earth deposits in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.

The fern is what scientists call a “hyperaccumulator”. which has the ability to suck up and store unusually high concentrations of metals from the soil – often hundreds or thousands of times more than a normal plant.

Researchers were amazed to find tiny nanoscale crystals of the mineral monazite inside the fern.

Monazite is a phosphate mineral which is rich in valuable rare earth elements such as cerium, lanthanum and neodymium. This discovery is significant because monazite usually forms deep in the Earth under intense heat and pressure, not in the gentle, low-temperature environment of a living plant.

This scientific breakthrough could open the door for a futuristic green technology called “phytomining”.

Instead of continuing to dig massive, polluting mines, we could one day plant fields of these hyperaccumulator ferns on metal-rich land. After the plants grow and “soak up” the minerals, they can be harvested to recover the rare earths.

This offers a “green circular model” said the Guangzhou Institute – a way to clean up soil polluted by old mines while also “recycling” the valuable elements still trapped in the ground. It’s a potential win-win for the environment and the tech industry.