Houseplants That Humidify the Air: 50 Plants Evaluated

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Did you know that plants can increase their own humidity? Plants naturally release water, and some are better at it than others. This post will look at the results of a NASA sftudy to look at which houseplants humidify the air the best!

Do Plants Add Humidity to the Air?

The short answer is…yes they do! Plants add humidity to the air by a process called transpiration, where water evaporates from the leaves.

Plants only use a small percentage of water for growth and biological processes. More than 90% of water is lost through transpiration and is released into the air!

Some houseplants naturally transpire more water than others.

Houseplants That Add Humidity to the Air

Dr. B. C. Wolverton, the scientist who discovered the ability of houseplants to clear toxins out of indoor air, conducted research in order to make the air breathable in a NASA lunar habitat.

The study mainly looked at the ability of houseplants to remove many airborne toxins including formaldehyde, xylene, and other compounds that are released into the air by many household items such as carpeting, particle board, and even paper towels.

If you are interested in the easiest toxin-removing houseplants to grow from this study, check out my blog post 9 Easiest Indoor Plants for Air Purification.

From this study, I extracted just the transpiration rate for this blog post and included the results in the table below.

50 plants were studied and rated. Please note that the botanical names were taken directly from the book.

Some of these names have actually changed, but I kept the names that were published in the fascinating book, that you can purchase on Amazon, How to Grow Fresh Air by Dr. B. C. Wolverton.

I’ve read the book cover to cover and is fascinating! Brings a whole new perspective to growing plants.

Some of the plants described below are popular houseplants. Others are just seasonal plants that are just temporary “houseplants.”

Here are the 50 houseplants, ranked in descending order of transpiration rate. For plants that I have blog posts for, I’ve included a clickable link in the table.

The houseplants at the top of the list release the most water into the air (10 being the highest rate), and the houseplants at the bottom of the list release the least moisture into the air.

NAME	BOTANICAL NAME	TRANSPIRATION RATE
Areca Palm	Chrysalidocarpus lutescens	10
Bamboo Palm	Chamaedorea seifrizii	9
Boston Fern	Nephrolepis exaltata “Bostoniensis”	9
Kimberley Queen Fern	Nephrolepis obliterata	9
Lady Palm	Rhapis excelsa	8
Ficus Alii	Ficus macleilandii “Alii”	8
Peace Lily	Spathiphyllum sp.	8
Florist’s Mum	Chrysanthemum morifolium	8
Gerbera Daisy	Gerbera jamesonii	8
Dracaena “Warneckei”	Dracaena deremensis “Warneckei”	8
Dwarf Banana	Musa cavendishii	8
Rubber Plant	Ficus robusta	7
Dracaena “Janet Craig”	Dracaena deremensis “Janet Craig”	7
English Ivy	Hedera helix	7
Dwarf Date Palm	Phoenix roebelenii	7
Corn Plant	Dracaena fragrans “Massangeana”	7
Golden Pothos	Epipremnum aureum	7
Dragon Tree	Dracaena marginata	7
Syngonium	Syngonium podophyllum	7
Dumb Cane	Dieffenbachia “Exotica Compacta”	7
Parlor Palm	Chamaedorea elegans	7
Schefflera	Brassaia actinophylla	7
Wax Begonia	Begonia semperflorens	7
Dumb Cane	Dieffenbachia camilla	7
King of Hearts	Homalomena wallisii	7
Prayer Plant	Maranta leuconeura “Kerchoveana”	7
Anthurium	Anthurium andraeanum	7
Weeping Fig	Ficus benjamina	6
Lacy Tree Philodendron	Philodendron selloum	6
Norfolk Island Pine	Araucaria heterophylla	6
Chinese Evergreen	Aglaonema crispum “Silver Queen”	6
Peacock Plant	Calathea makoyana	6
Red Emerald Philodendron	Philodendron erubescens	5
Elephant Ear Philodendron	Philodendron domesticum or Philodendron tuxla)	5
Oakleaf Ivy	Cissus rhombifolia “Ellen Danika”	5
Lily Turf	Liriope spicata	5
Dendrobium Orchid	Dendrobium sp.	5
Spider Plant	Chlorophytum comosum “Vittatum”	5
Croton	Codiaeum variegato pictum	5
Pointsettia	Euphorbia pulcherrima	5
Dwarf Azalea	Rhododendron simsii “Compacta”	5
Cyclamen	Cyclamen persicum	5
Heart-Leaf Philodendron	Philodendron exycardium	4
Christmas and Easter Cactus	Schlumbergera bridgesii: Schlumbergera rhipsalidopsis	3
Tulip	Tulipa gesneriana	3
Moth Orchid	Phalaenopsis sp.	3
Snake Plant	Sansevieria trifasciata	2
Aloe Vera	Aloe barbadensis	2
Urn Plant	Aechmea fasciata	2
Kalanchoe	Kalanchoe blossfeldiana	2

Humidity and Houseplants

Grouping many houseplants together, especially ones that have high transpiration rates, will create a more humid microclimate.

Pretty cool right? Of course you’d need a lot of plants for this to happen, but it is possible.

There are a few ways to increase humidity for your plants in your home. In the blog post I just linked to, I also talk about my absolute favorite humidifier that I use in my own home so be sure not to miss it!

I’ve tested many humidifiers and I found a tremendous one!