Plants Can Improve Indoor Air Quality

In the summer, I greatly enjoy filling my outdoor patios with huge tropical plants such as banana, elephant ears, Dracaena and Ficus trees. Then I always grumble as I try to find space indoors in which I can overwinter these plants. In reality, bringing these plants indoors may provide a way to improve the air quality in the rooms in which they are located. Several years ago, National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) studies found that plants can be very useful in absorbing harmful pollutants, and hence cleaning the air inside homes and buildings. In an ongoing study, NASA research found that living plants were so effi cient at absorbing contaminants in the air that some of these plants were launched into space as part of the biological life support system aboard orbiting space stations. NASA -funded research has consistently shown that living, green and flowering plants can remove several toxic chemicals from the air in building interiors, including benzene, which is an irritant to eyes and skin, formaldehyde, which is also found in almost all indoor environments, and trichloroethylene. When plants undergo photosynthesis, they take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release oxygen. During this process, they also take in air pollutants at the same time as taking in the carbon dioxide. The roots and plant tissue then degrade the pollutant. Studies since have also found that the potting soil, and microorganisms in the potting soil, also play a role in removing pollutants from the air. Years ago, houses and offi ce buildings were not sealed as tightly, and indoor air quality was not as contaminated because the air was replaced often enough by leaky walls, windows, and doors. With current construction, buildings and homes are much better insulated and sealed, and as a result, air might linger for hours allowing air pollutants to accumulate. Plants that were listed as particularly good at absorbing air contaminants were:

• 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 or reed plant (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)

Information for this article was retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_air_filtering_plants.

Mary Kroening
Missouri Master Gardener Coordinator
KroeningM@missouri.edu