5 Household Plants That Can Give Your Home’s IAQ a Boost

Plants are useful in helping to purify the air in your Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, home. They can remove toxins that may cause health problems. Knowing what plants can purify the air best can help you have better indoor air quality. Read on to learn more about the best household plants.

A Word of Caution

Household plants can give you better indoor air quality, cleaning the air from cancer-causing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) like formaldehyde and benzene. While plants can help clean indoor air, some purifying plants can be toxic to pets. Before you buy plants, research which plants are safe for pets. Plants that aren’t safe for pets can cause symptoms such as drooling, nausea, vomiting, loss of hair, damaged skin, seizures, coma and death.

Which Plants Are Best for IAQ?

Here’s a handy list of which plants can best help improve your home’s IAQ. Keep in mind that many plants have several common names. To ensure you’re checking on the right plant, use the scientific name, which will be in Latin.

Areca Palm

The Areca Palm (Dypsis lutescens) is a pet-safe plant that has various names such as Butterfly Palm due to its fronds that resemble butterfly wings. It’s not native to Florida but thrives in the climate.

Boston Fern

The Boston Fern (Nephrolepis exhalant) has many names such as the Sword Fern, the tuber ladder fern or fishbone fern. The wild Boston fern is native to Florida, but the domestic version is best kept indoors as it tends to be invasive.

Lilyturf

Lilyturf (Liriope muscari), as a non-native species, is best to grow indoors. The plant tends to be invasive.

Money Plant

The Money Plant (Pachira aquatica) is non-native to Florida, originating in Central and South America.

Purple Waffle Plant

Purple Waffle Plant (Hemigraphis ‘Exotica’) is native to tropical Asia and thrives in Florida. However, since it’s a non-native plant and potentially invasive, you should grow this plant indoors.

In lab tests, these household plants have proven to help purify the air of toxic chemicals such as toluene, xylene and formaldehyde. To improve your indoor air quality even more, let our team help. Call Ranger Air Conditioning at 772-205-3293 to schedule a maintenance visit.

Image provided by iStock

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