Houseplants That Clear Toxins From Your Home

Bringing a bit of nature into your home does more than brighten the atmosphere. Introducing houseplants into various rooms in your house can help reduce the chance of getting seasonal sicknesses (such as the common cold), remove airborne contaminants (volatile organic compounds, or VOCs), reduce your chance of headaches, lift your mood, decrease your blood pressure, reduce allergies, improve your sleep and much more.

The plants listed below are specifically known for their air purifying properties.  And while an open window may feel like all the fresh air you need, did you know that everything from toilet paper to common household cleaners can contain chemicals and release toxins like formaldehyde? Or that VOCs like benzene can be released into the air by everything from the paint on your walls, to the printed material found in your home?

So why not breathe a bit easier and enjoy the beauty of a new house plant at the same time!

***A warning for Pet Owners:  some common plants can cause toxicity in pets. Please check my list tomorrow of common poisonous plants before  you bring home a house plant.***

(All plants listed will clear CO2 and may clear more VOCs than noted.)

1.  Golden pothos 

 

2. Ficus alii 

(Ficus maeleilandii alii): Good general air purifier.

3. Spider Plant

 

(Chlorophytum comosum): Clears benzene, formaldehyde, carbon monoxide and xylene.

4. Lady Palm

(Rhapis Excelsa): Good general air purifier.

5.  Snake plant (you may call it mother in law tongue)

 

Snake Plant (Sansevieria trifasciata ‘Laurentii’): Clears formaldehyde.

6.  Aloe Vera 

 

Clears formaldehyde and benzene.

7.  Moth Orchid

(Aglaonema Crispum ‘Deborah’): Clears air pollutants and toxins.

8. Chrysanthemum

 (Chrysantheium morifolium): Clears benzene.

9. Gerber daisy 

(Gerbera jamesonii): Clears trichloroethylene and benzene.

10. Red-edged dracaena

(Dracaena marginata): Clears xylene, trichloroethylene and formaldehyde.

11. Weeping fig

(Ficus benjamina): Clears formaldehyde, benzene and trichloroethylene

12. English ivy

(Hedera helix): Clears airborne fecal-matter particles.

13. Azalea

(Rhododendron simsii): Clears formaldehyde.

14. Heart leaf philodendron

(Philodendron oxycardium): Clears formaldehyde and many other air pollutants.

15. Warneck dracaena

(Dracaena deremensis ‘Warneckii’): Clears pollutants such as those associated with varnishes and oils.

16. Boston Fern

(Nephrolepis exaltata Bostoniensis): Clears formaldehyde.

17. Bamboo palm

(Chamaedorea sefritzii):  Clears benzene, trichloroethylene and formaldehyde.

18. Peace lily

(Spathiphyllum): Clears formaldehyde, benzene, trichloroethylene, toluene and xylene.

---

I was going to continue this post with a list of plants poisonous to pets, but the list grew way too long so that will be tomorrow’s post. As an animal lover, I believe it’s important to know which plants shouldn’t be around your pets…  How many of you knew what benefits house plants have to your home? I didn’t know much about this & I probably know much more about plants harmful to pets as I’ve had pets most of my life…

Have a great day!