Abstract
This study attempted to facilitate various groundcover plants, related to phytoremediation material, and advance shade plants with a heavy metal tolerance to contaminated soil in an urban shade space. Saxifraga stolonifera, which has commonly been used a landscape shade plants, was evaluated to determine its heavy metal tolerance to different concentrations(Control, $100mg{\cdot}kg^{-1}$, $250mg{\cdot}kg^{-1}$ and $500mg{\cdot}kg^{-1}$ treatment) of Cd, Pb and Zn in soil. The growth of Saxifraga stolonifera showed no significant tendency after the initial transplantation, but showed distinct changes with the respective treatment heavy metal types and concentrations over time. Especially, severe chlorosis, with more yellowish green leaves, was observed, with inhibition at Cd concentrations greater than $100mg{\cdot}kg^{-1}$. Conversely, no external symptoms or growth retardation were observed with Pb and Zn concentrations less than $500mg{\cdot}kg^{-1}$. Therefore, Saxifraga stolonifera can be applied as a long term phytoremediation species in soil contaminated with low concentrations of heavy metal in urban shade spaces.
