I often get asked to provide plants specifically to improve the air in a modern office. As you may be aware, the air in modern air-conditioned offices contains a lot of impurities, and the right kinds of plants really can make a difference by absorbing a lot of the nasties. A lot of offices with aircon have very dry air, so the increase in humidity is useful too. Believe it or not, it has been shown that a sufficient quantity of plants relative to staff numbers can actually pay for themselves by reducing the cost of absenteeism due to sickness!
Don't believe me? There's a mass of data available at the
Plants for People website to back me up.
As for what plants work best, you need a lot of leaf area, so broad-leaved plants are best, and high humidity is encouraged by thirsty plants. So a broad-leaved Ficus, like the
burgundy rubber plant I installed in Southampton last year is ideal.
Air-improving alternatives to the
Ficus family include broad-leaved
Dracaenas,
Spathiphyllums and
Aglaonemas. You'll find pictures of all of these on the main
office plants website.
