Information on House Plants

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Overview

Houseplants are everywhere: your living room, the dentist's office and your work cubicle. Plants add color and style---but they can do double-duty: Add plants to your environment to clean the air, cheer you up and feed and soothe your family.

Houseplants make you feel good. image by "Tree Leaves" is Copyrighted by Flickr user: shaire productions (Sherrie Thai) under the Creative Commons Attribution license.

Air Quality

Houseplants remove dangerous volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) from the air inside homes. A NASA study concluded that a collection of recommended houseplants removed VOCs and eliminated the respiratory symptoms associated with the contaminates.

Mood Lifting

Plants make you feel good. Creativity and productivity increases in the presence of greenery. The field of horticultural therapy continues to explore the emotional and psychological benefits of plants and gardening.

Humidity

Plants increase indoor humidity, reducing static electricity and dry skin. Higher humidity levels may reduce your susceptibility to colds.

Food

Herbs double as attractive houseplants and provide fresh ingredients all year. Parsley, rosemary, bay and tarragon can grow in a bright, south-facing window.

Medicinals

Some houseplants have healing properties. The sap of aloe vera can be used on mild burns and other skin irritations. Chamomile can be grown indoors and used as a stomach-soothing tea.

Scent

Grow your own aromatherapy plants. Lavender can be overwintered indoors and used to keep you and your pets calm and collected.

References

NASA Plant Study
Horticultural Therapy
Iowa State: Plants and Productivity

Who Can Help

Minnesota Gas Association: Humidity
Colorado State University: Aromatherapy

Keywords: houseplants, aromatherapy, horticultural therapy

About this Author

Moira Clune is a freelance writer who since 1991 has been writing sales and promotional materials for her own and other small businesses. In addition, she has published articles on VetInfo and various other websites. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Hartwick College.

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