Pot experiments were conducted with barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), potato (Solanum tuberosum L.), Indian mustard (Brassicajuncea L.), and white lupin (Lupinus albus L.) to determine the nature of Zn mobilization, uptake, and root-shoot transport from a Zn-contaminated soil in the presence of increasing concentrations of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA; 0.0-3.4 mmole/kg soil). Increasing EDTA concentrations lead to a greater proportion of soil-solution Zn being detected as the ZnEDTA complex. However, a significant increase in the concentration of soil-solution Zn was only observed after the addition of 3.4 mmole EDTA/ kg soil. At this application rate, regardless of the plant species, 97 +/- 9% (+/- SD) of the increase in soil-solution Zn could be accounted for by chelation/desorption, and 89 +/- 9% of total Zn in solution was measured as ZnEDTA. Although the complex was detected in the xylem exudate of B. juncea after 0.34 mmole EDTA/kg soil had been added, ZnEDTA was only found in the xylem exudate of the other plant species following the highest application rate of EDTA. In this case, the accumulation of Zn and the concentration of ZnEDTA in the xylem sap of B. juncea were significantly greater than those of H. vulgare and S. tuberosum. Measurements of plant transpiration following the addition of EDTA indicated that B. juncea experienced greater physiological stress in the presence of high concentrations of EDTA. It was therefore concluded that two different mechanisms of ZnEDTA uptake existed for these plant species. Based on a review of the literature, it was hypothesized that uptake of ZnEDTA by B. juncea occurred only after physiological damage to its root system, whereas uptake by H. vulgare and S. tuberosum was via an apoplastic pathway (passive extracellular transport into the xylem).