Best Plants to Improve Indoor Air Quality

Man watering a spider plant

This image shows a man watering a Chlorophytum comosum — spider plant

Chlorophytum comosum, often called spider, is a species of perennial flowering plant. It is native to tropical and southern Africa, but has become naturalized in other parts of the world, including western Australia.

Chlorophytum comosum is easy to grow as a houseplant; variegated forms are the most popular.

The spider plant grows to about 60 cm (24 in) tall. It has fleshy, tuberous roots, each about 5–10 cm (2–4 in) long. The long narrow leaves reach a length of 20–45 cm (8–18 in) and are around 6–25 millimeters (0.2–1.0 in) wide

Flowers are produced in a long, branched inflorescence, which can reach a length of up to 75 cm (30 in) and eventually bends downwards to meet the earth. Flowers initially occur in clusters of 1–6 at intervals along the stem of the inflorescence.

Each cluster is at the base of a bract, which ranges from 2–8 cm (0.8–3.1 in) in length, becoming smaller towards the end of the inflorescence. Most of the flowers which are produced initially die off, so that the inflorescences are relatively sparsely flowered.

Individual flowers are greenish-white, borne on stalks (pedicels) some 4–8 mm (0.2–0.3 in) long. Each flower has six triply veined tepals which are 6–9 mm (0.2–0.4 in) long and slightly hooded or boat-shaped at their tips.

The stamens consist of a pollen-producing anther about 3.5 mm (0.1 in) long with a filament of similar length or slightly longer. The central style is 3–8 mm (0.1–0.3 in) long. Seeds are produced in a capsule, 3–8 mm (0.1–0.3 in) long, on stalks (pedicels) which lengthen to up to 12 mm (0.5 in).

The inflorescences carry plantlets at the tips of their branches, which eventually droop and touch the soil, developing adventitious roots. The stems of the inflorescence are called “stolons” in some sources, but this term is more correctly used for stems which do not bear flowers and have roots at the nodes.

Spider plants are easy to grow, being able to thrive in a wide range of conditions. They will tolerate temperatures down to 2 °C (35 °F), but grow best at temperatures between 18 °C (65 °F) and 32 °C (90 °F). Plants can be damaged by high fluoride or boron levels.

The NASA Clean Air Study determined that this plant was effective at removing common household air toxins formaldehyde and xylene.

Spider plants have also been shown to reduce indoor air pollution in the form of formaldehyde, and approximately 70 plants would neutralize the formaldehyde released by materials in a representative 1,700 sq ft] energy-efficient house, assuming each plant occupies a 3.8 L pot.