If you love the feeling you get when you go outside and breathe the fresh air, you’ll be happy to know that you can get that fresh air in your own home. All it takes is getting a few plants to populate your home, purifying the indoor air of all its toxins from basic household items. Here are a few plants that will purify the air in your home, giving you a fresh feeling.

Adiantum: Most Effective Natural Cleaner

Adiantum is one of the fastest, most effective air-purifying plants, even though it only targets a few specific toxic chemicals: formaldehyde, xylene and toluene. All three of these are carcinogens known as Volatile Organic Chemicals, and they are very bad for you.

All of these can be found in your home, though, because of items like toilet paper, paint, and fingernail polish. However, adiantum can rid the air of about 20 micrograms of formaldehyde every hour. Now, that’s impressive!

Even better is that adiantum is fairly easy to take care of. You don’t need to keep it in sunlight—in fact it grows best in low light. With regular watering—just enough to keep the soil damp—it’ll do its best to keep your home purified.

Aloe: For the Smoker

Aloe is a great plant if you or someone in your household smokes. Cigarette smoke produces toxic chemicals like benzene and formaldehyde (as well as other chemicals like carbon monoxide and ammonia), and both of those are toxins that aloe targets.

It’s a pretty easy plant to take care of, being sun-loving. Just put it in a windowsill, and it’s good to go. And if you forget to water it for a few weeks, it’s not going to die either—my sister discovered this when she forgot about her aloe plant for over a month. Although her plant was obviously not in perfect health, it was still alive.

What makes aloe even more interesting is the fact that spots appear on the leaves when it can’t absorb all the toxins in the air. If it ever feels overwhelmed by the chemicals in the room, it can let you know, so you can add some more plants to help the aloe out.

Chinese Evergreen: The Adaptable One

The Chinese evergreen can adapt to absorb the chemicals you need it to. This means that the longer you have it, the better it will get at purifying the air of the dominant chemicals in the room.

The evergreen grows best in low light, and it’s easy to care for. However, it is highly toxic to felines, unfortunately. So if you have a cat, you’ll want to find another plant for your home—cats are far too curious and have an uncanny ability to go where they shouldn’t.

Orchids: Easiest to Grow

Although a lot of people think orchids are difficult to grow, the opposite is true. Most people baby their orchids, but orchids actually do best when you neglect them. They don’t need a lot of water, and they don’t need a lot of sunlight. In fact, if you give them too much of either (or both), they’ll have problems.

Orchids are particularly good for places with new paint, because they absorb xylene. Orchids are also really good to put in bedrooms, since they give off a lot of oxygen at night, helping you sleep better.

Heartleaf Philodendron: Widest Toxin Absorption

The heartleaf philodendron targets the widest range of toxins—specifically volatile organic chemicals, like benzene, trichloroethylene, formaldehyde, xylene, and toluene. This philodendron targets all of these toxins—making it unique, since most other plants only target one or two.

It doesn’t require a lot of attention to flourish, but you definitely want it in a household of mature adults without any pets. It’s toxic if eaten, to both humans and animals, so it would be best to keep it away from children and pets.

By getting some of these plants in your home, you can spoil yourself with fresh air. So stop breathing in toxins and harming your body. Pick up a plant today!

Author byline:
Eloise Hamilton studied political science and now writes primarily about politics and thought, and her other love—cars. Aside from cars and Congress, her interests include photography and cooking. She loves animals and frequently volunteers at animal shelters and pet stores like Big Al’s Pets.