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Best air-filtering houseplants, according to NASA
If these plants are good enough to filter the air of the space station, surely they're good enough for your home.
Fri, Nov 30 2012 at 10:51 AM
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Having good indoor air quality is very important, especially since many of us spend so much time inside. NASA did a study to find out which plants were best to filter the air of the space station, and the agency's findings are available to all.
Read on to see which houseplants are best to filter the air (not only producing oxygen from CO2, but also absorbing benzene, formaldehyde and/or trichloroethylene.)
- English ivy (Hedera helix)
- Spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum)
- Golden pothos or Devil's ivy (Scindapsus aures or Epipremnum aureum)
- Peace lily (Spathiphyllum 'Mauna Loa')
- Chinese evergreen (Aglaonema modestum)
- Bamboo palm or reed palm (Chamaedorea sefritzii)
- Snake plant or mother-in-law's tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata'Laurentii')
- Heartleaf philodendron (Philodendron oxycardium, syn.Philodendron cordatum)
- Selloum philodendron (Philodendron bipinnatifidum, syn.Philodendron selloum)
- Elephant ear philodendron (Philodendron domesticum)
- Red-edged dracaena (Dracaena marginata)
- Cornstalk dracaena (Dracaena fragans 'Massangeana')
- Janet Craig dracaena (Dracaena deremensis 'Janet Craig')
- Warneck dracaena (Dracaena deremensis 'Warneckii')
- Weeping fig (Ficus benjamina)
- Gerbera daisy or Barberton daisy (Gerbera jamesonii)
- Pot mum or florist's chrysanthemum (Chrysantheium morifolium)
- Rubber plant (Ficus elastica)
You can also see the best plants to filter formaldehyde, xylene and toluene.
Here's a Chlorophytum comosum, also known as the spider plant.
All photos: Wikipedia
Related plant stories on MNN:
- What plants are toxic to cats?
- What plants are poisonous to dogs?
- 15 houseplants for improving indoor air quality
- House plants safe for pets
This story was originally written for Treehugger. Copyright 2012.
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The trees are great and these plants also reduce carbon footprints
Found this just in time for me to order some plants for the office. :)
I have all of these and more in my house. Plants i love, probably about 40 just in the house, lots more outside in the greenhouses
You would be surprised how many plants you can put in a room to get the most air cleaning ability and still have it look nice. Also, if you are allergic to mold spores, cover the soil with something like aquarium gravel. Will also keep from having to water as often.
Thanks from linking to the Wikipedia article. Nothing inspires confidence like the "knowledge" of Random People on the Internet.
I just looked up the Pothos plant. I didn't realize I had one. Yes, this plant is easy to grow. :)
Please use a reference to your comment. Why do you think NASA is pseudo science? They have many scientists at NASA, more than the EPA.
i second wolverton's book! it's a great guide and i've purchased it for many of my friends and family
I have a friend that gave me part of her Mother in laws tongue and I love it. Recently I gave her some Aloe Vera because I had to much, still do. We need our schools to have plants in the classroom and other places other than the office, library and the Entrance of the school.
I'm curious if there are any plants like these for us cubicle dwellers. Preferably something that can grow off florescent lights? Us poor trolls in IT don't get windows like the Marketing department...
Nick,
I have both a peace lily and a shoot of bamboo in my office cubical. " all florescent lights no windows as well. They have been doing well for over a year. The peace lily gets some brown tips on the leaves, but this is normal and it keeps growing. I would suggest getting a "self water" pot for the peace lily. It makes it easier to care for as well.
PEACE LILIES are great, tough plants that can thrive on very little light and thus do well indoors! Unlike most of the others on the list, a north window will provide sufficient light.
They seem to be swamp plants, needing a lot of water. To cut down on how often I have to water mine, I put their pots on deep saucers filled with of pebbles (for extra humidity that they like), then water them until they have 'wet feet.' Most plants would suffer from that, but peace lilies don't seem to mind.
The link to the NASA document is dead, but you can find it here as well: http://www.scribd.com/doc/1837156/NASA-Indoor-Plants
indoor air quality is super important. if you have poor air quality inside of your home you could suffer from many health problems. even asthma!
Great article, but before buying plants, try to find local plants for your environment. Even though the plant will be indoors, you don't want to select an invasive species. If you wander through a park, you can see the results of English Ivy and other invasive species have taken over some eco-systems.
Best bet: buy one of these plants at a responsible nursery that specializes in native plants.
The plants dying from the ozone should give you a clue to the 'health benefits' of ozone. As far as I know it's toxic. May be 'oxygen' but it's not in a form that our bodies can handle and use.
woow thanks for these plants i will purchase one from my local plant store soon
It was my first time checking your website and I loved it. Every human been in this world should do something to save our planet and we have to teach our kids about this too. Just remember they are the ones that will be living here longer. We owe that to them. Take action, live green.
So which ones on this list are least likely to die from poor ownership? I have a feeling I'd be a bad plant-dad. And my apartment gets very little sun
Be aware that some of these plants aren't great for children or pets though. Inhabitots recently had an article about nursery-safe plants that filter the air.