NASA Guide to Houseplants for Improving Indoor Air Quality

By: | June 5th, 2015

Most of us think that pollution and health issues only arise from big factories and industrial processes, rather than from normal homes. But this is a wrong conception. The buildings in which we work and live protect us from nature’s extremes and provide us all the worldly comforts, but they also affect our health and environment in countless ways.

NASA and the Associated Landscape Contractors of America researched houseplants as a way to improve indoor air quality. They tested how well houseplants diffuse chemicals like formaldehyde and benzene that are normally present in every home.

Although all indoor plants are capable of purifying air to some degree, some were found to be more beneficial than others in neutralizing the effects of sick building syndrome. These best air-filtering indoor plants are commonly available at local flower shops.

Below is an infographic created by “Love The Garden” with the list of 18 NASA-recommended plants for improving air quality, as well as the common toxins that each plant can treat.

Nidhi Goyal

Nidhi is a gold medalist Post Graduate in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences.

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