Indoor Plants That Remove Toxins From The Air
It’s been a running joke that I’m an almond farmer’s daughter who can’t keep a plant alive to save my own life. The only plant I was able to keep alive for many years what a ficus I gave my now husband, when we were first dating in college. We had only been dating a couple months before his birthday and I had no clue what to give him as a gift. He was a forestry major so I thought “I’ll give him a tree!”. Genius gift idea for a 22 year old college student!
I’m actually certain the last thing he wanted was to keep a houseplant alive in college but that thing lived for years and years and got nicknamed “The love ficus”. Nearly 15 years later, our love lives on but that ficus is no longer with us.
My lack of a green thumb and equally lack of desire to grow a green thumb has left our house plant-less for a few years. That changed when I found out that I have multiple MTHFR mutations and was advised to start decreasing my exposure to the toxin around me, including in home.
The majority of my 24 hours a day are spent at home because I have a home based business. Instead of going into an office during daytime hours, I spend the majority of my time in the house so I started researching ways to decrease in-home toxins. I found that The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in association with the Associated Landscape Contractors of America (ALCA) published The NASA Clean Air Study of 1989. The study suggested that certain common indoor plants may provide a natural way of removing toxic agent such as benzene, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene.
Off to the store I went with my list of plants, including pictures since I don't know a thing about plants let alone what they look like, and my green thumbed mom for backup. The following toxin removing plants were added to the family.
SPIDER PLANT (Chlorophytum comosum)
Toxin Removal:
Formaldehyde, Xylene, Toluene
ALOE VERA
Toxin Removal: Benzene, Formaldehyde
PEACE LILY (Spathiphyllum)
Toxin Removal: Benzene, Formaldehyde, Xylene, Toluene, Ammonia, Trichloroethylene
WEEPING FIG (Ficus benjamina)
Toxin Removal: Formaldehyde, Xylene, Toluene
Most plants release oxygen during the day, but when photosynthesis stops, at night, many plants release carbon dioxide. Succulents do the opposite, emitting oxygen at night. So I also added a few extra succulents to the list because they are super cute and are easy to keep alive. Added bonuses!
So far I’ve been able to keep a hubby, 8 year old corgi, and our 4 year old boy watered and alive for this long, surely I’ve got it in me to do the same with these new additions to the family.
Time will tell!
Old School Modern Mama,
Melanie Satterlee's Old School Modern Mama Blog
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