A study of bromacil uptake by excised barley (Hordeum vulgare) roots was used to evaluate this procedure as a tool to learn the uptake characteristics of toxic organic chemicals. Bromacil uptake was shown to be a passive process with an uptake rate (at 0.8 mg l(-1)) of 0.64 μg bromacil g(-1) fresh root hr(-1). A Q10 for the process was determined to be 1.5 and living roots were required for bromacil uptake. This procedure was judged to be a quick and inexpensive method to screen plant uptake of toxic chemicals.