Plant fibres are capacious for sorption of metal ions, and can be used in water cleaning. Knowledge about the sorption will help in selection of the fibre and optimisation of its chemical modification, if any. The aim of this paper is to investigate the connection, if any, between the distribution of lignin and pectin and the loading of Pb and Zn on coir (mesocarp fibres from Cocos nucifera L.). The coir consisted mainly of xylem and a fibre sheath, The lignin was evenly distributed in the cell walls of the fibre sheath, but in the xylem, there was no detectable content in the compound middle lamella, and a smaller content of lignin in the secondary walls than in the walls of the fibre sheath. The only detectable content of pectin in the fibre sheath walls was in the middle lamella, cell corners and extracellular matrix, while in the xylem, the pectin was almost evenly distributed in the wall, with a higher concentration in the middle lamella and cell corners. All cell walls facing the lacuna had a high content of pectin. The metal ions were mainly loaded on the xylem and cell walls facing the lacuna, maybe with in additional trend to be loaded on the large fibres. Lead was distributed on and across the whole secondary wall. Zinc was loaded on the secondary walls, but there was no information about the distribution across the wall. If there is it simple correlation between the loading of metal ions and the distribution of lignin or pectin, these investigations point at no correlation with lignin and a positive correlation with pectin. It has to be stressed that these conclusions arc made on limited material and are therefore preliminary in nature. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.