The inorganic composition of the bark and leaf of a plant from the Amazon rainforest, Andira surinamensis, was determined using two non-destructive, multi-element techniques: X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS). XRF measurements were made using both a conventional X-ray source and synchrotron radiation. It was observed that although magnesium, aluminum, silicon, phosphorus,...