NASA Reveals A List Of The Best Air-Cleaning Plants For Your Home

Though you wouldn’t necessarily associate NASA with indoor plants, the research institute did a study in the late ’80s on plant abilities to purify the air. A healthy home environment is vital to a person’s well-being, and houseplants contribute to it more than you might think. Their main benefit is acting as an air purifier, so it sounds only reasonable that NASA did a Clean Air Study, that found which are the best indoor plants at removing benzene, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene, xylene, and ammonia from our surroundings – chemicals that have been linked to adverse health effects like headaches, dizziness, eye irritation, and others.

Dr. B. C. Wolverton led the study about 27 years ago, and according to its results, The Florist’s Chrysanthemum and Peace Lily are the best plants for purifying the air. NASA also recommended to have at least one plant per 100 square feet (10 square meters), and although this research is quite old, it is still regarded by many as the most comprehensive and accurate to date.

Scroll down below to check the infographic on air purifying plants, go to your nearest florist’s and get yourself some fresh air!

More info: nasa.gov (h/t: lovethegarden, designyoutrust)

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What do you think ?

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Hans 8 years ago

Good to know actually. :)

11points

Peer-Arne Böttcher 8 years ago

NASA also found out: If you want to get the full air purifying benefit of a plant, the dirty air has to pass by the roots. As a result, plants that grow in a pot which ventilates the root system can absorb pollutants up to 8 times as much as in conventional plant pots. That's why our team at AIRY has re-invented the plant pot. :-) In an AIRY one plant is able to purify a room of 25 square meters within a day. And all you need to do for maintenance is to up the water reservoir every two to three weeks.

7points

Scott Daniel 7 years ago

While it is true that the researchers noted that filtering air through active-carbon-filters / roots could also remove contaminants, they did not compare these to plants that had no active-carbon-filter / exposed roots. I find no evidence for your 8x claim.

2points

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Duzzent Mattur 5 years ago

Would you mind on replying to Scott's questions about proof? Also: why don't you make your pots cheaper? If I equip every single one of my (soon) plants, I will need to spend a thousand EUR. Now I might buy one pot. Or two. If any. If they cost only half, my purchase would quadruple...

0points