Forest vegetation does recycle substantial amounts of silicon from and back to the soil solution with phytoliths as an intermediate phase, contrary to recent reports

Summary Recent reports that forest vegetation takes up little Si and returns little to the soil in litter are based on the mistaken assumption that digestion of leaf and litter in hot oxidizing acids can bring phytoliths, a form of opaline silica, into solution. Phytolith formation and dissolution can explain a number of otherwise puzzling aspects of Si in soil solution.