It seems like such a no-brainer, really. Like, why on earth didn't I figure it out sooner? OF COURSE plants help make your indoor spaces fresher and nicer. And now I read that they actually remove chemicals from the air. Perhaps you all knew this already? Perhaps those of you lucky enough to keep plants alive longer than one season have noticed the long-term benefits? (Seriously, pre-kids I used to actually wonder what it meant for my future offspring that houseplants never lived more than a month or two. I reassured myself that, if only plants could cry, they would have a fighting chance.)
Experts say: "Common indoor plants may provide a valuable weapon in the fight against rising levels of indoor 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."
Plants most effective in removing formaldehyde, benzene, and carbon monoxide from the air:
| Common Name | Scientific Name |
| Aloe Vera, Burn Plant | Aloe Barbabensis |
| Bamboo Palm | |
| Chinese Evergreen | |
| Common English Ivy | Hedera |
| Dumbcane | Dieffenbachia |
| Elephant Ear Philodendron | Philodendron Domesticum |
| English Ivy | Hedera Helix |
| Ficus/Weeping Fig | Ficus Benjamina |
| Gerbera Daisy | |
| Golden Pothos | Epipiremnum Aureum |
| Heartleaf Philodendron | Philodendron Scandens `Oxycardium' |
| Janet Craig | |
| Marginata/Red-Edged Dracaen | |
| Mass Cane/Corn Plant | |
| Mauna Loa | |
| Mother-In-Law's Tongue | |
| Peace Lily | |
| Pot Mum | Chrysantheium Morifolium |
| Selloum Philodendron | Philodendron Selloum |
| Snake Plant | Sansevieria Trifasciata |
| Spider Plant | Chlorophytum Comosum |
| Warneckii |
Never heard of most of these? Me either. Some of them sound positively Potter-esque (“Dracaena Marginata” anyone?). Some sounds just scary. (“Mother-in-Law’s Tongue”? Oh, did you think I was going to say “Snake Plant”? Yeah, I meant that one…) However, even I know what an Aloe is, and I could probably find my way to a Ficus (see picture above) with only a little difficulty.
As a rule of thumb, allow one houseplant per 100 square feet of living area. For the spatially-challenged (hand shooting into air), that means you should have one plant for every 10' x 10' space. So, a small bedroom or kitchen needs one large plant or two small ones, and your living room probably needs 2 or 3 big plants. Or, if you’re me, 8 newly purchased sproutlings in the hope that 2 will survive to adulthood in the big, bad world of my living room.
References:
http://www.blankees.com/house/plants/
http://www.cleanairgardening.com/houseplants.html
http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgarden/ygbriefs/h110indoorair.html
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=howTo&p=LawnGarden/LivingAirCleaners.html
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