Revegetation under wetland rather than dryland conditions provides an alternative to traditional methods of rehabilitation of metal mine tailings. The wetland plant Glyceria fluitans (floating sweetgrass) was found growing in a lead/zinc mine-tailings pond. The potential of this species for revegetation of mine tailings under wetland conditions had not previously been investigated. In two outdoor experiments, G. fluitans of non-contaminated origin grew successfully on alkaline tailings containing elevated metal concentrations (230 μmol g⁻¹ Zn, 11 μmol g⁻¹ Pb). Growth of G. fluitans was significantly enhanced on tailings treated with NPK fertilizer (700 kg ha⁻¹), but the plants grew well even without fertilizer, indicating a low nutrient requirement. Glyceria fluitans did not survive on saline (MgSO₄) tailings originating from another mine that contained much higher lead (34 μmol g⁻¹) and iron (2584 μmol g⁻¹) concentrations. The ability of G. fluitans to tolerate many of the adverse conditions associated with mine tailings favors its use for revegetation purposes.