The story
From phyto- (prefix meaning ‘derived from or pertaining to plants’) + mining.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Today it means: The planting and harvesting of vegetation that selectively concentrates specific metals from the environment into its tissues, for the purpose of commercial exploitation of the extracted metal. Full definition →
From phyto- (prefix meaning ‘derived from or pertaining to plants’) + mining.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.