We present in this work preliminary results on the translocation of copper, manganese and iron from soil to leaves of Sambucus nigra L. seedlings in the presence of increasing copper concentrations in the growth medium. The use of electron spin resonance spectroscopy and the comparison with atomic absorption spectroscopy is not presently common in the study of metal absorption in plants. This approach gave promising results both on the detection of some metal ions, as well as of radical species related to the presence of Cu2+ in plant tissues. Copper was found to act synergistically in manganese uptake.