Top Air-filtering House Plants

Feeling lethargic lately? Is the air to stuffy in your room? Want to save money on air-conditioning bills? Well then, just get yourselves some potted plants for your home's interior.



The people over at NASA has found that living indoor plants are so efficient at absorbing contaminants in the air, that some of them will be launched into space as part of the life support system aboard future space stations.

Common indoor plants may provide a valuable resource in the fight against rising levels of air pollution. Those plants in your office or home are not only decorative, but NASA scientists are finding them to be surprisingly useful in absorbing potentially harmful gases and cleaning the air inside modern buildings.

Research into the use of biological means of solving environmental problems, both on Earth and in space habitats, has been carried out for many years by researchers at NASA. Plants take substances out of the air through the tiny openings in their leaves, but research also shows that plant leaves, roots and soil bacteria are all important in removing trace levels of toxic vapors.

NASA research has consistently shown that living, green and flowering plants can remove several toxic chemicals from the air in building interiors. You can use plants in your home or office to improve the quality of the air to make it a more pleasant place to live and work.

A list of air filtering plants was compiled by NASA as part of the NASA Clean Air Study, which researched ways to clean air in space stations. As well as absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen, as all plants do, these plants also eliminate significant amounts of benzene, formaldehyde, and trichloroethylene.

TOP plants - Most effective in removing air pollutants:

1. Chinese evergreen (Aglaonema modestum)
2. Peace lily (Spathiphyllum 'Mauna Loa')
3. Janet Craig dracaena (Dracaena deremensis 'Janet Craig')
4. Warneck dracaena (Dracaena deremensis 'Warneckii')
5. Bamboo palm/Reed palm (Chamaedorea sefritzii)
6. Pot Mum/Florist's Chrysanthemum (Chrysantheium morifolium)
7. Spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum)
8. Cornstalk dracaena (Dracaena fragans 'Massangeana')
9. Red-edged dracaena (Dracaena marginata)
10. Weeping Fig (Ficus benjamina)
11. Rubber Plant (Ficus elastica)
12. Gerbera Daisy/Barberton daisy (Gerbera jamesonii)
13. English Ivy (Hedera helix)
14. Selloum philodendron (Philodendron bipinnatifidum, syn. Philodendron selloum)
15. Elephant ear philodendron (Philodendron domesticum)
16. Heartleaf philodendron (Philodendron oxycardium, syn. Philodendron cordatum)
17. Snake plant/Mother-in-law's tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata 'Laurentii')
18. Golden pothos/Devil's ivy (Scindapsus aures/Epipremnum aureum)

These are plants that you can find anywhere, at the florist or even at the roadside. Using living plants is an environmental-friendly way to reduce air pollution. So please do Earth a favour, put some plants at home to keep the air fresh, and plant a tree while you're at it.

Visit: www.treehugger.com