Study objectives were to describe and quantify growth responses (tolerance as shoot and root biomass accumulation) to soil-applied Hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) treatments of eighteen terrestrial, herbaceous, angiospermous species and also; to determine how much of RDX, RDX transformation products, total N and RDX-derived N accumulated in the foliage. RDX altered growth of eighteen plant species or cultivars at levels of 100, 500, and 1,000 mg kg(-1)dry soil in a 75-d greenhouse study. Sixteen species or cultivars exhibited growth inhibition while two were stimulated in growth by RDX. A maximum amount of foliar RDX in a subset of three plant species was 36.0 mg per plant in Coronilla varia. Foliar concentrations of transformation products of RDX were low relative to RDX in the subset of three species. The proportion of RDX-N with respect to total N was constant, suggesting that foliar RDX transformation did not explain differences in tolerance. There was a δ (15)N shift towards that of synthetic RDX in foliage of the three species at a level of 1,000 mg kg(-1) RDX, proportional in magnitude to uptake of N from RDX and tolerance ranking.Reddened leaf margins for treated Sida spinosa indicate the potential of this species as a biosensor for RDX.
Keywords: RDX; phytoextraction; phytoremediation; royal demolition explosive; soil pollutants.