Detox your House: Top 5 plants for cleaning your air

Dennis Wolverton at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has done studies over the past two decades to find out which plants could remove toxic chemicals from the air for use in space stations.

The plants that topped his list are:
  - Mass cane (dracaena massangeana)
  - Pot mum (Chrysanthemum morifolium)
  - Gerbera daisy (Gerbera jamesonii)
  - Warnecki (Dracaena deremensis “Warneckei”)
  - Ficus (Ficus benjamina)

These five plants were particularly effective at clearing the air of formaldehyde, benzene, and trichloroethylene. Common household sources of these toxins include new carpets, new furniture and mattresses, and press board furniture.

Mass cane (dracaena massangeana)

Pot mum (Chrysanthemum morifolium)

Gerbera daisy (Gerbera jamesonii)

Warnecki (Dracaena deremensis “Warneckei”)

Ficus (Ficus benjamina)

Dr. Crinnion ND,  an expert in environmental medicine and author of Clean, Green and Lean,  refers to these plants as "Nature's Air Purifiers" and recommends putting LOTS of them in your home or workplace. By using a variety of these plants and "making your home a jungle" you'll have dramatically improved the air quality of your home.

Other Plants that are effective at air purification:

  - English Ivy (Hederix helix)

  - Marginata (Dracaena marginata)

  - Mother-in-laws tongue (Sansevieria laurentii)

  - Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum Mauna Loa)

  - Banana (Musa oriana)

  - Bamboo palm (Chamaedorea seifrizii)

  - Heart Leaf philodendron (Philodendron oxycardium)

  - Green Spider Plant (Chlorophytum elatum)
  - Janet Craig (Dracaena deremensis)

Researcher Kamal Meattle, has also done work on air quality and show how three of these common household plants can drastically improve air quality.