Environmental degradation caused by anthropogenic impact affects the living activity of organisms, including plants. Especially a lot of stresses are caused by heavy metal ions, p.e. copper. Investigation of the effects of copper ions on living organisms is important because this element is a very common pollutant, as metallic copper is one of the most wide-spread constructing materials. However, copper is an important trace element involved in the transfer of electrons in the ETC in mitochondria and chloroplasts, pigment synthesis and activation of many enzymes. The excess of copper in the environment lowers the level of chlorophyll biosynthesis, changes the protein composition of the chloroplast and inhibits photosynthetic electron transport. Aluminum at high concentrations is also a toxic element for plants. It is one of the most abundant elements in the lithosphere. Due to its light weight, high thermal and electrical conductivity, it is widely used as a structural material. Despite the fact that aluminum is not a heavy metal, it is quite toxic to plants, especially in acidic soils. Aluminum toxicity is significantly caused by its antagonism to calcium and magnesium. All these facts cause the interest to creating forms of plants tolerable to these ions and to the study of the mechanisms of their toxicity and detoxification. The aim of our study was to investigate the influence of copper and aluminum ions on germination and seedling growth in white clover. Seed germination, root and hypocotyls sizes as well as the content of photosynthetic pigments were studied under the influence of copper sulphate and aluminum sulphate solutions at 50, 100, 200 and 1 000 /M on metal. Seeds were germinated in Petri dishes on filter paper moistened with test solutions. The germination of seeds was tested on the third day after sowing, on the fifth day the linear size of seedlings and concentration of photosynthetic pigment were determined after ethanol extraction spectrophotometrically. It was shown that the most sensitive indicator of copper and aluminum stress is the root growth compared to hypocotyl growth. Copper ions were significantly more toxic to clover sprouts than aluminum ones. 50 /M copper sulfate caused a depression in the development of plants, and aluminum ions at the same concentration had no effect on plant development. 100-200 //M CuSO 4 caused a twofold reduction in all the studied parameters while the Al 2(SO) at 200 and 1 000 //M reduced them to no more than one third. Maximum concentration of aluminum ions (1 mM) had less effect on plant development than copper ions at concentration of 100 and 200 /M. The obtained data could be used for clover breeding to get more heavy-metal resistant forms.