Cheaply Clean Your Indoor Air Using Common Houseplants

Houseplants As Air FIlters

Many houseplants remove harmful elements such as tri- chloroethylene, benzene, and formaldehyde from the air according to several studies made by NASA/ALCA in the late 1980's.

While the study originally intended to find ways to purify the air for extended stays in orbiting space stations, the study proved to have implications on Earth as well.

NASA found that some of the plants were better than others for absorbing these common pollutants, all of the plants had properties that were useful in improving overall indoor air quality and also noted that some plants are better than others in treating certain chemicals.

For example, English ivy, gerbera daisies, pot mums, peace lily, bamboo palm, and Mother-in-law's Tongue were found to be the best plants for treating air contaminated with Benzene. The peace lily, gerbera daisy, and bamboo palm were very effective in treating Trichloroethylene.

Additionally, NASA found that the bamboo palm, Mother-in-law's tongue, dracaena warneckei, peace lily, dracaena marginata, golden pathos, and green spider plant worked well for filtering Formaldehyde.

After conducting the study, NASA and ALCA came up with a list of the most effective plants for treating indoor air pollution.

The recommended plants can be found below. Note that all the plants in the list are easily available from your local nursery or even your supermarket.

• Philodendron scandens `oxycardium', heartleaf philodendron
• Philodendron domesticum, elephant ear philodendron
• Dracaena fragrans `Massangeana', cornstalk dracaena
• Hedera helix, English ivy
• Chlorophytum comosum, spider plant
• Dracaena deremensis `Janet Craig', Janet Craig dracaena
• Dracaena deremensis `Warneckii', Warneck dracaena
• Ficus benjamina, weeping fig
• Epipiremnum aureum, golden pothos
• Spathiphyllum `Mauna Loa', peace lily
• Philodendron selloum, selloum philodendron
• Aglaonema modestum, Chinese evergreen
• Chamaedorea sefritzii, bamboo or reed palm
• Sansevieria trifasciata, snake plant
• Dracaena marginata , red-edged dracaena

For an average home of under 2,000 square feet, the study recommends using at least fifteen samples of a good variety of these common houseplants to help improve air quality.

Follow the link to Top Houseplants for Improving Indoor Air Quality for more detailed information and hints on how to grow these indoor air cleaning plants.

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