NASA Clean Air Study

These results are not applicable to typical buildings, where outdoor-to-indoor air exchange already removes volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at a rate that could only be matched by the placement of 10–1000 plants/m² of a building's floor space.

The results also failed to replicate in future studies, with a 2014 review stating that:

While the plant's ability to take up VOCs is well documented in laboratory studies, the effect of plants on indoor air in complex environments like offices requires further investigations to clarify the full capacity of plants in real-life settings.

List of plants studied

The following plants were tested during the initial 1989 study:

• Variegated snake plant / mother-in-law's tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata laurentii)
• English ivy (Hedera helix)
• Peace lily (Spathiphyllum 'Mauna Loa')
• Chinese evergreen (Aglaonema modestum)
• Bamboo palm (Chamaedorea seifrizii)
• Red-edged dracaena, marginata (Dracaena marginata)
• Cornstalk dracaena, mass cane/corn cane (Dracaena fragrans 'Massangeana')
• Weeping fig (Ficus benjamina)
• Barberton daisy, gerbera daisy (Gerbera jamesonii)
• Florist's chrysanthemum, pot mum (Chrysanthemum morifolium)
• Dracaena deremensis 'Janet Craig'
• Dracaena deremensis 'Warneckei'