19 Houseplants that Combat Mold and Air Pollution in Your Home
Plants may be the planet’s lungs, but they may also be its liver and kidneys. Many plants work as efficient air purifiers, getting rid of harmful toxins that cause severe health problems for humans. Fortunately, several of these plants also make wonderful houseplants.
Houseplants are not only gorgeous but also free air purifiers that can last for years. Other air filtering strategies, including ventilation, using HEPA filters, and activated charcoal, are expensive. They also don’t have any aesthetic value in your home like plants do.
In the last decade, many studies have shown how effective houseplants are at filtering toxins and even mold spores in the air. We used data from a 2017 study by the International Journal of Engineering Technology Science and Research to make a comprehensive list of these purifying beauties. Below are 19 houseplants that combat mold and air pollution in your home.
Dura Cotta Hanging Basket
Ideal for trailing plants, the Dura Cotta Hanging Basket features a built-in reservoir that holds excess water, ensuring your plant’s roots stay consistently hydrated. Assembly is effortless with included clips and a macrame cord, allowing you to easily suspend the planter from a wall bracket or ceiling.
Peace Lily
Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum spp) is a popular tropical houseplant that many indoor gardeners adore. It has long, dark green foliage and flower stalks that end in captivating white flowers. For novice gardeners, it’s one of the easiest plants to grow, needing very little maintenance.
On top of being easy to grow, it’s also a remarkable air filter for indoor spaces. According to the study, it filters formaldehyde, toluene, xylene, and trichloroethylene. According to the National Library of Medicine, trichloroethylene causes certain cancers, including kidney cancer.
These compounds exist in paints, household chemicals, adhesives, and other household items. If you want an easy-to-grow indoor flower that brightens up a room and cleans the air, it’s hard to beat a peace lily.
Snake Plant
The snake plant (Dracaena trifasciata) is a tropical plant native to West Africa. It’s a short-statured perennial with broad green, yellow, or white leaves. It’s easy to grow indoors, needs little water or sunlight, and can live for several years.
Besides its wonderful nature as a houseplant, snake plant is an expert air filter. So much so that, according to this study, it’s more efficient than an actual mechanical air filter. This small succulent filters out benzine, ozone, formaldehyde, toluene, xylene, and trichloroethylene.
If you’re looking for an easy plant to grow that rips out carcinogens from the air, it’s hard to beat the snake plant. It comes in multiple varieties and colors and is available in nurseries throughout the US.
Spider Plant
The spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum) is a wonderful houseplant that’s easy to find in nurseries and garden stores. Choose from several cultivars, each with unique colors and patterns. It’s easy to care for, requires little care, and has few pests. Plus, it can live close to 20 years!
In addition to its gorgeous foliage and easy-growing nature, it’s one of the best natural filters you can grow. According to the study, it filters hydrocarbons, ozone, toluene, xylene, and formaldehyde. These chemicals cause an abundance of health effects. Photocopiers and printers can cause ozone in the air and lead to respiratory issues.
Because it’s beautiful, easy to care for, and filters the air, it’s a popular houseplant for spas, hospitals, and businesses. You’ll enjoy the thin green leaves in containers and drooping overhanging gardens.
Boston Fern
Boston fern (Nephrolepis exaltata) didn’t originate in Boston. However, it did arrive there in 1894 from a Philadelphia grower’s plant shipment, hence its name. Its true native range is tropical Central and South America. Over the last century, it’s become a popular houseplant and outdoor fern in the US.
It has beautiful, full evergreen fronds and lush rosettes. With a little misting, regular fertilizing with liquid plant food, and stable temperature control, you can grow a Boston fern easily.
On top of being an excellent houseplant, it’s one of the best air purifiers you can grow. It filters pollutants such as toluene, xylene, and formaldehyde. Many resins and household adhesives contain formaldehyde. This potential carcinogen can cause nasty respiratory and skin ailments.
Chinese Money Plant
The Chinese money plant (Pilea peperomioides) is a unique-looking houseplant that’s easy to grow and maintain. It has a lot of names, including pancake plant and UFO plant. As its name suggests, its native habitat is China, in the provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan.
It has small, circular glossy leaves that resemble green coins. The plant is small and slow-growing. It needs well-draining soil and plenty of light to thrive. Other than that, it’s incredibly easy to grow.
Chinese money plant is also a natural air purifier. It can remove benzene, which causes short-term effects, including irritated respiratory tracts, headaches, and dizziness. Long-term exposure includes reduced red blood cell counts and leukemia.
Broadleaf Lady Palm
The broadleaf lady palm (Rhapis excelsa) is one of the easiest palm trees to grow indoors. Its native range is in southern China. In the Middle Ages, the palm was a popular ornamental plant in Japanese palaces. In the 18th and 19th centuries, it spread to Europe and North America. Today, it’s hard not to find a nursery in the US that doesn’t sell it.
Even if you’re a novice gardener, you’ll grow this long-living indoor plant with ease. It needs bright indoor light and moist soil. The only frequent maintenance it needs is thinning brown and dead leaves.
The subtropical evergreen is also a great air filter. According to the study, it filters ammonia, toluene, and xylene. Ammonia is in many chemical fertilizers and is present in homes near agricultural areas. Having a lady palm in your home is an epic way to clean out this dangerous chemical.
English Ivy
English ivy (Hedera helix) is an incredibly vigorous climbing vine that will take over an outdoor space. It thrives in a diverse range of climates, from frigid temperate zones to tropical wetlands. It’s native to Europe and Russia and has become a popular outdoor ornamental plant and houseplant, much to the detriment of many native ecosystems due to its invasive nature.
Indoors, it is easier to contain. It prefers steady watering and well-draining soil. You’ll get brightly colored green foliage you can grow from hanging containers and bookshelves. The plant makes an incredible bathroom plant if it gets enough light.
If you plant English ivy indoors, you’ll enjoy one of nature’s best air purifiers. It filters benzene, formaldehyde, toluene, xylene, ammonia, and hydrocarbons.
Flamingo Flower
The flamingo flower is an almost plastic toy-looking tropical flower that makes an epic houseplant. It has bright green heart-shaped foliage and attention-grabbing flowers that can be pink, red, white, or orange. It’s a little harder to grow than many other houseplants and needs moderate maintenance.
Its native range is tropical South America, including Colombia and Ecuador. It thrives in the canopies of trees, taking in nutrients from the air. Its epiphytic nature means it has evolved to become an expert air filter.
This colorful and popular houseplant purifies the air from chemicals such as formaldehyde, toluene, xylene, ammonia, and hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons enter the air from gas-powered engines, stoves, and lighters. If you want to filter these carcinogenic compounds from your indoor space, try growing a beautiful flamingo flower.
Pygmy Date Palm
The pygmy date palm (Phoenix roebelenii) is a popular ornamental tree and indoor houseplant. It’s also an efficient natural air filter to combat mold and air pollution. According to the study, it filters the pollutants toluene, xylene, and formaldehyde.
These pollutants are some of the most common in indoor spaces. Objects such as furniture, building materials, wallpaper, and common adhesives sometimes contain them. It’s hard to find an indoor space without at least some exposure.
It grows only three to four inches every year, making it perfect for indoor spaces. Besides its purifying power, it produces yellow flowers and deliciously sweet fruit similar to common dates. If you grow a pygmy date palm indoors, give it a large container, well-draining soil, and lots of light from a south-facing window or grow light.
Areca Palm
The areca palm, or bamboo palm as it’s often called in nurseries, is a tropical palm that’s a popular houseplant. Native to Madagascar, it can reach 30 feet growing outdoors. Outside of tropical gardens and yards in Hawaii, California, and Florida, you’ll often find it growing in hotel lobbies.
As an indoor perennial or outdoor plant, it can live for over 40 years. One of the most popular characteristics of this plant is its broad fronds that arch upwards. Its trunk has green and yellow segments separated by darker rings, which give it the name bamboo palm.
As pleasantly tropical as it looks indoors, it serves another purpose as a wonderful natural air purifier. It filters out the pollutants toluene, xylene, and formaldehyde. Because it’s a slow-grower, you won’t have to repot it often. As a tropical air-purifying houseplant, it’s hard to find a better palm for your home, office, or business.
Heartleaf Philodendron
The heartleaf philodendron (Philodendron bipinnatifidum) has romantic heart-shaped and bright green foliage. It’s easy to care for a tropical vine that thrives in indoor containers. Grow this charming perennial vine in a hanging basket or on a shelf as a green wall accent.
A heartleaf philodendron is native to the Caribbean and prefers moist but not soggy soil and warm temperatures. Other than giving it plenty of warmth and moisture, it doesn’t need much maintenance. It even thrives in lo-light spaces, including offices and bathrooms.
Besides being easy to care for and beautiful, this climbing plant filters formaldehyde and hydrocarbons from the air. These toxins are common in indoor spaces near agricultural and industrial zones.
Weeping Fig
Ficus benjamina, commonly known as a weeping fig, is a popular houseplant for its tree-like shape. It’s a compact evergreen tree with waxy green leaves. It has a few maintenance requirements, but you shouldn’t have any problems growing it.
This small tree is native to tropical Southeast Asia and northern Australia, where it’s a common houseplant and outdoor ornamental. It’s so popular that the city of Bangkok made it the official tree.
On top of being compact and beautiful, this tropical evergreen is an excellent air filter. It rids formaldehyde, hydrocarbons, toluene, and xylene.
Madagascar Dragon Tree
Many people mistake the Madagascar dragon tree (Dracaena reflexa var. angustifolia) for a palm. It’s a relative of the Asparagaceae family. It has long, spiky leaves with multiple colors of streaks. There are many varieties to choose from, including tricolor and compact plants.
The Madagascar dragon tree is a spectacular houseplant. First, it’s super easy to maintain. It thrives in shady spaces and rooms. It also needs less watering than many popular houseplants.
Besides its foliage and easy-to-care-for nature, it’s also a great filter for toxins. It filters trichloroethylene, formaldehyde, toluene, xylene, and benzene. As a perennial, you’ll enjoy its purifying powers for years if you care for it.
Dwarf Banana Tree
Musa ornata is one of the many hybrid edible banana varieties used for decorating indoor spaces. As a houseplant, it’s easy to care for and gives rooms and offices a bright tropical look. It has thick and wide leaves and beautiful flowers.
This variety is compact and short. You can put it in a variety of spaces. Its only requirements are high humidity, warm temperatures, and full sunlight.
On top of its beauty and non-fussiness, the Musa ornata tree is grown for its Ayurvedic properties. It’s also a great air purifier, filtering formaldehyde from the air.
Aloe Vera
It’s hard not to find aloe vera growing in gardens and indoor spaces. It’s easy to care for and produces thick leaves that contain medicinal sap. The sap is an ingredient in healthcare products and skin lotions. It’s also one of the best home remedies for sunburns.
Besides its superpowers as a health food and cosmetic, it’s also a great air filter. Aloe vera rids the air of formaldehyde and benzene. These volatile chemicals enter the air in urban areas near industrial zones.
Aloe vera is easy to care for and can live for many years as an indoor perennial. Make sure your plant gets a lot of light. If you have a room with a south-facing window, it should be enough to give your plant enough light to thrive.
Dieffenbachia
Dieffenbachia is a great houseplant for its large green and white leaves and easy-growing nature. Plant it in containers indoors, and you’ll get a thriving perennial that gives your home a tropical look.
The plant is native to tropical and subtropical areas of Central and South America. In the wild, it becomes an almost tree-like plant in forest undergrowth. The plant may be gorgeous and easy to grow, but some gardeners ignore it due to its toxicity to humans.
Although it could send you to the hospital if you eat it, dieffenbachia is a wonderful air purifier. This houseplant filters toxins in the air, such as toluene, xylene, and hydrocarbons. As long as you don’t ingest it, this green ornamental plant will make a great natural air filter for your home.
Rubber Plant
The rubber plant (Ficus elastica) is a popular houseplant that’s native to the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. It has broad leaves and a compact form that looks great in small containers and hanging gardens. Although it’s easy to grow and compact indoors, it can reach over 100 feet tall in its native environment.
On top of bringing tropical vibes to your home or office, this plant is a wonderful natural air filter, particularly for formaldehyde. This harmful substance can enter your home from cigarette smoke and building materials. It can also come from some household products.
Growing a rubber tree can help rid this toxic substance from your indoor space. With its beauty, low maintenance needs, and air-filtering powers, it’s hard to find a better houseplant.
Chrysanthemum
Chrysanthemum is an emblematic flower native to Asia. It was commonly depicted in pottery in ancient China. After it came to Japan in the 8th century A.D. it became a symbol of the Japanese Emperor.
As a houseplant, chrysanthemum is easy to grow and beautiful. It grows as an herbaceous (non-woody) perennial with brightly colored composite flowers.
On top of its ornamental aspects, it is a natural air purifier. It filters a huge range of harmful toxins, including trichloroethylene, formaldehyde, toluene, xylene, benzene, and ammonia.
Moth Orchid
Growing a moth orchid, no matter which variety, can be daunting. However, once you get the hang of it, you’ll fall in love with this tropical-looking houseplant. Between its verdant foliage and romantic blooms, it’s hard to find a prettier addition to your home.
This tropical plant is from Southeast Asia and grows on trees as an epiphytic plant. This means it doesn’t require the typical potting soil that other houseplants need. For indoor gardeners, having a moth orchid means you can grow it from a variety of creative container types.
As artsy and charming as it is, a moth orchid also has plenty of extra uses, especially filtering the air. It mainly filters toluene and xylene, two common pollutants found in household products and building materials.
