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The aim of the present study was to assess the metals concentrations in native vegetation from Baia Mare city and to evaluate the relationships between the metals contents in vegetation and the soil chemical properties using multivariate statistical techniques. The metals concentrations in vegetation (mg kg-1 dry weight) in the studied areas ranged between: 0.35 – 18.3 for Cu, 2.30 – 120 for Zn, 0.05 – 2.58 for Cd, 0.02 – 15.0 for Pb, 0.21 – 4.09 for Ni, 0.08 – 2.03 for Cr, 1.65 – 389 for Mn, 5.20 – 278 for Fe and 12.0 – 398 for Al. The average content of Cd in vegetation from Ferneziu district exceeded the maximum level (1.0 mg kg^-1) allowed in animal feed set by the European Directive 2002/32/EC. Higher concentrations of Pb, Zn, Cr, Mn and Cd, were found in vegetation collected from the industrial part of the city, in the vicinity of smelting industrial units presently closed or partially closed, while the concentrations of Ni, Fe and Al were slowly higher in vegetation from the area considered unaffected by mining activities. By applying multivariate analysis it was found that soil pH is negatively correlated with all metals in vegetation and plays an important role in the soil-plant transfer. Generally poor correlations were found between pseudo-total metal contents in soil and metals content in vegetation.

Keywords: native vegetation, soil pollution, heavy metals, Baia Mare, multivariate analysis