Japanese royal fern tops list of plants ideal for cleaning indoor air

From ScienceDaily: Phytoremediation -- the use of green plants to remove pollutants or render them harmless -- is seen as a potentially viable and environmentally significant means of improving the indoor air quality in homes and offices. A team of scientists from Korean's Rural Development Administration and the Department of Horticulture at the University of Georgia tested the efficiency of volatile formaldehyde removal in 86 species of plants representing five general classes (ferns, woody foliage plants, herbaceous foliage plants, Korean native plants, and herbs). The results of the extensive research were published in HortScience.

Osmunda japonica (Japanese royal fern), Selaginella tamariscina (Spikemoss), Davallia mariesii (Hare's-foot fern), Polypodium formosanum, Psidium guajava (Guava), Lavandula (Sweet Lavender), Pteris dispar, Pteris multifida (Spider fern), and Pelargonium (Geranium) were the most effective species tested. Ferns had the highest formaldehyde removal efficiency of the five classes of plants tested, with Osmunda japonica determined to be most effective of all 86 species, coming in at 50 times more effective than the least (D. deremensis) efficient species.

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