Five indoor plants that help filter fine dust

Local researchers have revealed five plants that are capable of improving indoor air quality.
They said the plants filter fine dust out of the air while photosynthesis takes place.
Cho Sung-min reports.
Researchers at the National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science have selected five plants that excel at improving indoor air quality...by filtering the most amount of fine dust.
The scientists came up with the list after conducting a thorough research on each indoor plant's ability to absorb fine dust during photosynthesis.

After enclosing each plant inside a room polluted with fine dust particulates, the researchers measured the amount of dust left inside the room after 4 hours.
The research showed nearly sixty percent of fine dust particulates were eliminated in each room.
And the plant that was able to reduce the most amount of fine dust from the air was a tropical plant called Spanish moss.
It slashed sixty-nine percent of dust particles in the room.
Common ivy and coralberry came in second at sixty-five percent and third at sixty-two percent respectively.

Another plant, called scindapsus and bamboo palmo made the top five ladder...as they each swallowed up to fifty-nine percent of the fine dust.

According to the researchers, the plant's leaves play a pivotal role in getting rid of the fine dust particles.

"Stomata located on the bottom side of leaves, can get as big as twenty micrometres wide. These pores suck in the dust particles,...while the upper part of the leaves has thin layers of sticky resin that snatch up fine dust floating in the air."

The team said all of these plants are easy to grow in small and compact spaces, and added getting one of these at home or an office could vastly contribute in making the air cleaner.
Cho Sung-min, Arirang News.