House plants that can help purify the air in Beijing

Air in Beijing is an issue, with alarming warnings from the Chinese scientific authorities, and the unlikeliness that the problem will be quickly solved in the incoming years, Beijing inhabitants have to find ways to make their environment conditions better.

One way can be to use House Plants. In addition to decoration, they can be used as quite efficient air purifiers. In 1989, the NASA made a study around 50 plant varieties in order to define which ones are the most efficient. In 2009, another experiment has been made by indian scientists in order to find how to combine some of these plants inside an apartment to optimize air cleaning (you can watch a lecture about their results here).

The most known plants and flowers markets in Beijing are:

Yuquanying Flower Market玉泉营花卉市场

55 Nansanhuan Xilu, Fengtai District(+86 10 6353 8637)丰台区南三环西55

Chaolaichun Flower Market朝来春花卉市场

Beiyuan Donglu, Chaoyang District(+86 10 8491 010)朝阳区北苑东路

Tongsha Flower Market通厦花卉批发市场

South of Xisanqi Bridge, Haidian district(+86 10 6284 0174)西三旗环南300米路西

Liangma Flower Market亮马花卉市场

758 Dongsanhuan Beilu, Chaoyang District(+86 10 6504 2446)朝阳区东三环北路758,燕莎商城南,亮马河南岸

Now let’s have a look on some of these plants, which are fortunatemy pretty common. In Beijing, you have various plant markets where you’ll probably find most of them.

1. Areca Palm (Chrysalidocarpus lutescens) 散尾葵 Sàn wěi kuí

Areca-Palm

2. Lady Palm (Rhapis excelsa) 棕竹 Zōng zhú

Rhapis excelsa

3. Bamboo palm (Chamaedorea seifrizii) 袖珍椰子 Xiùzhēn yēzi

Chamaedorea seifrizii, C. erumpens

4. Rubber Plant (Ficus elastica) 印度橡胶榕 Yìndù xiàngjiāo róng

caoutchouc1rec-l650-h474-c

5. Dracaena marginata 紅邊竹蕉 Hóng biān zhú jiāo

ooooDracaena_marginata

6. Philodendron 红柄喜林芋, 林芋 , 春芋 Hóng bǐng xǐ lín yù, lín yù, chūn yù

Philodendron-giganteum-Scho

7. Dwarf Date Palm (Phoenix roebelenii) 日本葵 , 软叶刺葵 Rìběn kuí, ruǎn yè cì kuí

Palm-Phoenix-roebelenii

8. Ficus Alii 亚里垂榕 Yà lǐ chuí róng

ficus-alii-petite-large

9. Boston Fern Nephrolepis 波士顿肾蕨 Bōshìdùn shèn jué

boston_fern-1

10. Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum “Mauna Loa”) 白掌 Bái zhǎng

peacelily-wide

You can find details about these plants here or there.