We’re all aware that plants are lovely to look at and that they do a good job with making places generally more pleasant to be in. However, some plants can actually improve our health.

You may have heard of ‘sick building syndrome’, and we all know that the most common pollutants, such as tobacco smoke, can’t do us any good. However, there are other elements that make living in a home feel, at the very least, extremely uncomfortable. And some can even become significant health risks.

For example, some buildings were built with certain materials that can cause problems over time. They seep into the air and can cause serious illness. We’re talking about formaldehyde, for example. It’s present in the air in more homes than you think.

The plants we’re looking at here can go some way towards cleaning the air,and making it safer. In other words, these plants actually help to purify the air in a living space. And the best news is they aren’t very hard to find.

The Ficus

This is perhaps one of the easiest houseplants you can buy. It doesn’t require a lot of maintenance, so its air-purifying power can be enjoyed without the work that some other plants demand.

Indoors, it can grow up to 10 ft tall. That’s plenty of purifying power. The soil has to be dry between any watering that you do, so bear that in mind to get the full impact of the plant. One of the hardiest indoor plants available it does a great job of getting rid of pollutants such as benzene and formaldehyde.

The Boston Fern

If you keep this plant out of direct light it will do its job. It also needs to be in a fairly humid position too. Best in a cool location, the plant benefits from regular watering, and you’ll need to check the soil on a daily basis to see if water is needed.

Once in the right conditions, the Boston Fern helps to rid the air of xylene and formaldehyde. You’ll find that they grow well and don’t demand too much maintenance. It’s a great all-rounder.

The Snake Plant

This plant is unusual. It also has another, widely-used name (Mother-In-Law’s Tongue). It’s ridiculously easy to look after, and only needs watering occasionally.

The pollutants it gets rid of are many in number, but it takes care of benzene and formaldehyde. And because it’s so easy to look after, it’s an obvious choice for anyone who wants to use plants for air cleaning, but doesn’t want to tend the plant on a daily basis.

The Bamboo Palm

This one has (fashionably) been in homes for decades. But It has fantastic air-cleaning properties, and most people aren’t aware of them.

It is incredibly efficient at draining the air of formaldehyde, so it’s a real winner in the air purification stakes. It also happens to grow tall too, very tall. Right now, some homes have Bamboo Palms at twelve-feet high. And that extra height only makes it even more powerful when it comes to making the air in those homes cleaner.

The Dracaena

This plant has a number of different varieties. It’s good-looking too, so it helps with the aesthetics of the living space. But it also has an incredible impact on the air quality of a room.

The plant has long and wide leaves, with some of the varieties having different colours within the leaves that give them extra visual appeal. And the list of pollutants it can get rid of is impressive, with benzene, formaldehyde and xylene being just three of them.

The Peace Lily

Another blockbuster in air-cleaning, this is possibly the easiest one to grow on this list. Be careful that you don’t overdo it, lilies are notorious for strong scents and plenty of pollen. Throwing a lot of them all over the room may make for cleaner air, but if you have allergies you’re just creating more trouble for yourself.

That caveat aside, this particular plant does an extremely good job of getting rid of the following elements in your interior atmosphere:

• Benzene

• Formaldehyde

• Ammonia

• Trichloroethylene

So how does it all work?

There’s plenty of science behind the air-purifying movement. But one key fact has to be made clear first. If you’re serious about making the air in your home cleaner by using plants, the bigger the plant, the better the result. So ensure that you focus on fewer plants and bigger sizes. That will give you the best outcomes.

Julien de Bosdari is a gardening enthusiast with a bountiful amount of experience in the field, no pun intended. He is the proud owner at Ashridge Trees, a nursery that provides a range of plants including hedging, flowers, soft fruit and ornamental trees. You can also find him on LinkedIn.