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92% populasi dunia bernapas di tengah kualitas udara yang buruk karena tingginya konsentrasi polusi udara. Polusi udara berkontribusi sebanyak 43% dari seluruh penyakit dan kematian akibat Penyakit Paru Obstruktif Kronis (PPOK). Particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5), komponen polusi udara yang paling berbahaya, menyebabkan 4,2 juta kematian pada tahun 2017. PM2.5 bisa dibedakan menjadi PM2.5 dalam ruangan dan luar ruangan. PM2.5 luar ruangan memiliki rata-rata konsentrasi PM2.5 yang lebih tinggi sehingga tidak menutup kemungkinan mampu mempengaruhi PM2.5 dalam ruangan. Remediasi merupakan upaya untuk memulihkan area yang tercemar. Teknik remediasi yang sering digunakan saat ini adalah dengan menggunakan berbagai zat kimia untuk mengadsorpsi, memfiltrasi, ozonasi, fotolisis, dan biofiltrasi. Fitoremediasi merupakan remediasi yang menggunakan bantuan tanaman dengan memanfaatkan karakteristik permukaan tanaman serta mikroorganisme yang berada di dalam filosfer tanaman. Sirih gading (Epipremnum aureum) dan lili paris (Chlorophytum comosum) terbukti memiliki karakteristik permukaan daun yang mampu mengakumulasi PM2.5 terutama PM2.5 dalam ruangan. Selain itu, mikroorganisme yang terdapat di dalam filosfer kedua tanaman tersebut diketahui memiliki kemampuan untuk melakukan detoksifikasi PM2.5. Mikroorganisme yang memiliki kemampuan untuk detoksifikasi pada Epipremnum aureum adalah Aspergillus niger dan Aspergillus fumigatus serta bakteri filum Firmicutes. Sedangkan pada Chlorophytum comosum, mikroorganisme yang sangaet berperan adalah bakteri filum Proteobacteria.

This work aims to explore the role of cadmium-resistant actinomycetes on promoting plant growth and cadmium uptake in Chlorophytum comosum (Thunb.) Jacques, a spider plant. Actinomycetes isolated from the plant roots in peat swamp forests were screened for their cadmium resistance and the production of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and siderophores. The results found that K5PN1 and 11-10SHTh produced high levels of IAA and siderophores, respectively. K5PN1 and 11-10SHTh were identified to be Streptomyces rapamycinicus and Streptomyces cyaneus, respectively. Both strains were able to remove cadmium from aqueous solution and survive under cadmium stress in contaminated soil. The results of pot experiments found that the selected Streptomyces inoculation increased the root and shoot biomass and cadmium accumulation in the root and shoot of C. comosum planted in a cadmium-contaminated soil. The highest cadmium accumulation and translocation ability of cadmium from the root to shoot was found in C. comosum with S. rapamycinicus inoculation. In addition, plant with S. cyaneus inoculation had the highest phytoextraction coefficient and bioaccumulation factor. Our findings concluded that S. rapamycinicus and S. cyaneus stimulated the growth and cadmium uptake in C. comosum, suggesting a combined approach using the selected Streptomyces and C. comosum for phytoremediation of cadmium-polluted soil.

Air phytoremediation technology has been reported as a high potential technology for indoor air pollution treatment. Since 1996, NASA has supported this technology for application in the international space station. However, changes in plant physiology and hormone levels under microgravity (μG) conditions might affect air phytoremediation efficiency, especially changes of auxin hormone transportation in plants. In this study, the application of Chlorophytum comosum, high benzene removal plant species, to remove 100 ppm gaseous benzene under μG condition was studied. The experiment was operated for three days in a random positioning machine generate 6.44 × 10−4 G within 1 h. The results showed that under μG, benzene removal efficiency by C. comosum was significantly increased, with a remove more than 80% within three days under both 24 h light and dark conditions. In contrast, C. comosum growing under normal gravity (1G) can remove about 75% and 50% benzene under 24 h light and 24 h dark conditions, respectively. Surprisingly, μG conditions seem to maintain open stomata of a plant open under both 24 h light and dark conditions, and this plant will normally have closed stomata in the dark. In this case, shoot auxin hormone in the form of Indole-3-acetic acid was highly increased in the plant growing under μG. This result suggested that under μG, auxin hormone might be accumulated in the shoot part of plant. This auxin accumulation effect of maintaining open plant stomata can enhance benzene phytoremediation efficiency since stomata are the major benzene uptake pathway. Therefore, this study is the first report presenting the possibility of applying air phytoremediation technology under μG conditions.

The growth response, tolerance, and enrichment characteristics of six ornamental species, Chlorophytum comosum, Calendula officinalis, Iris lacteal, Belamcanda chinensis, Saponaria officinalis, and Polygonum lapathifolium were studied under hydroponic culture with lead (Pb) concentrations ranging from 0 to 1000 mg/L. The results showed that the growth of the tested ornamental species under Pb stress was inhibited. Belamcanda chinensis presented the largest tolerance index (0.75), and Calendula officinalis had the highest toxicity threshold (500 mg/L) under Pb stress. The highest Pb contents in the shoots were detected in Iris lacteal and Belamcanda chinensis. The enrichment coefficients in the shoots of Iris lacteal and Belamcanda chinensis were significantly higher than those in the other ornamental species. In conclusion, Iris lacteal and Belamcanda chinensis are the most tolerant and have the greatest Pb enrichment and translocation abilities under Pb stress, and thus, they have a strong potential to restore Pb-contaminated water bodies and soils.

Botanical biofilters have been proposed as an effective technology for indoor air remediation. Plants, including Sansevieria trifasciata and Chlorophytum comosum, which remove VOCs effectively, can also reduce CO2 emission since S. trifasciata and C. comosum are CAM and C3 plant species, respectively. Therefore, a botanical biofilter using these plants together shows potential for use in contaminated sites. Herein, the potential of this mixed plant botanical biofilter was evaluated as a method of phytoremediation for multi-pollutants from cigarette smoke. The results showed that the combination of S. trifasciata and C. comosum in a botanical biofilter was highly effective in removing VOCs and PM2.5. In addition, this botanical biofilter can also successfully remove formaldehyde, acetone, benzene, and xylene, with low CO2 emission under indoor conditions of moderate light intensity (50 μmole PAR m−2 s−1). The system was also installed in a large volume room (24 m3) to test phytoremediation of multi-pollutants from cigarette smoke. The results showed that this mixed plant botanical biofilter can remediate indoor air pollution effectively under both light and dark conditions continuously for three cycles. The mixed plant botanical biofilter developed showed potential for use in real contamination sites.

A hydroponic experiment was carried out to study the accumulation characteristics of copper (Cu) and lead (Pb) combined pollution in three ornamental plants. The results showed that these tested ornamental plants had higher tolerance to Cu-Pb combined pollution and could effectively accumulate the heavy metals. The Cu and Pb concentrations were higher in the roots of the ornamental plants than that in the shoots. For Panax notoginseng (P. notoginseng), Chlorophytum comosum (C. comosum) and Calendula officinalis (C. officinalis), the average Cu and Pb concentration in the three ornamental plants were 1402.1 mg/kg, 829.5 mg/kg, and 1473.4 mg/kg for Cu and 2710.4 mg/kg, 4250.3 mg/kg, and 4303.6 mg/kg for Pb, respectively. The three ornamental plants accumulation and tolerance to Cu-Pb were demonstrated through the hydroponic-culture method in this study. Therefore, the three ornamental plants should have great potential to be used in remediation of soils contaminated by Cu and Pb and beautifying the environment simultaneously.

Benzene, a hydrophobic xenobiotic, induces cell damage in both humans and plants. Due to its volatilization, benzene is an airborne environmental problem. The potential of an exogenous bioactive brassinosteroid phytohormone to enhance benzene removal for phytoremediation was investigated. Chlorophytum comosum had higher brassinosteroids content under benzene stress. Plant treated with 24-epibrassinolide (EBR) removed significantly more gaseous benzene than untreated plants under both light and dark conditions at an initial benzene of 12.75 μmol in the systematic chambers (P 0.05). Although benzene increased malondialdehyde in plant tissue, EBR-treated plants lowered this lipid peroxidation by enhancing their antioxidant content and increasing benzene detoxification-related genes expression, including ascorbic acid (AsA), homogentisate phytyltransferase (HPT), and glutathione synthethase (GS). This contributed to maintaining higher photosynthetic performances. Moreover, EBR-treated plants had higher gene expression of ferredoxin-NADP reductase (FNR) and glucose-6-phosphate 1-dehydrogenase (G6PDH), thus promoting NADPH biosynthesis to cope with benzene under light and dark conditions, respectively. Further, higher glutathione biosynthesis promoted more glutathione conjugate of benzene products including S-phenylcysteine (SPC) in EBR-treated plants. Hence, application of exogenous EBR as foliar spray provided for enhanced benzene detoxification via antioxidant content, benzene detoxification-related genes and benzene conjugation products with glutathione (GSH) and consequently greater gaseous benzene removal.

Poor indoor quality affects people’s health and well-being. Phytoremediation is one way in which this problem can be tackled, with living walls being a viable option for places with limited space. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of five plant species in a living wall to remove Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and to identify whether the type of pollutant has any influence. An enclosed chamber was used to add the contaminants n-hexane and formaldehyde independently. Total VOCs were measured for three days in two scenarios: (1) empty chamber, and (2) chamber with living wall. Five living walls were prepared, each with three plants of the same species: Spathiphyllum wallisii, Philodendron hederaceum, Ficus pumila, Tradescantia pallida, and Chlorophytum comosum. There was no correlation between leaf area/fresh weight/dry weight and the contaminant reduction. In general, all five species were more efficient in reducing TVOCs when exposed to formaldehyde than to n-hexane. Chlorophytum comosum was the most efficient species in reducing the concentration of TVOCs for both contaminants, Spathiphyllum wallisii being the least efficient by far.

The paper studied the absorption of Hg by five common herb species selected, Opuntia stricta , Aloe vera , Setcreasea purpurea , Chlorophytum comosum and Oxalis corniculata , in solution with different levels of mercury. We compared the accumulation of roots and shoots of the plants selected in medium containing different concentrations of mercury. The study was to explore what extent of mercury the five plant species were suitable for absorbing and transferring. The mercury amount uptake by five herb species was tested by CVAAS. The results demonstrated that the effect of different concentrations of mercury on the accumulation condition of roots was greater than that of shoots. There was an ideal Hg concentration for transfer by each plant species. Oxalis corniculata was the most suitable for transferring Hg and was more suitable for repairing soils with Hg at concentrations of less than 500 μg/L.

This study compared the cadmium phytoextraction efficiency of Chlorophytum comosum and Chlorophytum amaniense, and whether cadmium-resistant bacteria inoculation can enhance plant growth and cadmium uptake. Pot experiments were performed for nine weeks in greenhouse conditions. The results found that C. amaniense had a higher shoot biomass than C. comosum, while the root biomass of C. comosum was higher than that of C. amaniense. Micrococcus sp. MU1 boosted biomass production of C. comosum and C. amaniense under cadmium stress conditions. Cadmium accumulated more in the shoot and root of C. comosum than in C. amaniense. Inoculation of Micrococcus sp., Arthrobacter sp. and co-culture of these bacteria stimulated cadmium content in the shoot and root tissues. However, the highest cadmium extraction amount was found in C. comosum inoculated with Micrococcus sp. due to its higher plant dry weight. In addition, the cadmium phytoextraction efficiency of C. comosum was higher than that of C. amaniense, but the translocation of cadmium from the root to shoot in both plants were not significantly different (p

Removal rates of benzene and formaldehyde gas by houseplants reported by several laboratories varied by several orders of magnitude. We hypothesized that these variations were caused by differential responses of soil microbial populations to the high levels of pollutant used in the studies, and tested responses to benzene by plants and soils separately. Five houseplant species and tobacco were exposed to benzene under hydroponic conditions and the uptake rates compared. Among the test plants, Syngonium podophyllum and Chlorophytum comosum and Epipremnum aureum had the highest benzene removal rates. The effects of benzene addition on populations of soil bacteria were determined using reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) assays targeting microbial genes involved in benzene degradation. The total bacterial population increased as shown by increases in the levels of eubacteria 16S rRNA, which was significantly higher in the high benzene incubations than in the low benzene incubations. Transcripts (mRNA) of genes encoding phenol monooxygenases, catechol-2,3-dioxygenase and the housekeeping gene rpoB increased in all soils incubated with high benzene concentrations. Therefore the enrichment of soils with benzene gas levels typical of experiments with houseplants in the literature artificially increased the levels of total soil bacterial populations, and especially the levels and activities of benzene-degrading bacteria.

Cadmium (Cd) accumulation, antioxidant activity (AOA), chlorophyll fluorescence (F) and organic acid distribution in Chlorophytum comosum and Callisia fragrans plants exposed to artificially added Cd (40, 160 and 320 mg kg−1) were examined in pot experiment. At the highest Cd concentration, C. comosum accumulated in roots and the aboveground parts up to 1331 and 1054 mg Cd kg−1 DW, and C. fragrans up to 1427 and 1263 mg Cd kg−1 DW, respectively, which are quite near at the level of hyperaccumulator. Cd accumulation in both plant species increased significantly with the increment of soil Cd dosage, and the distribution was roots > shoots > stolons. Values of BC showed rising trend indicating an accumulation potential of both species. The root AOA was positively correlated to Cd addition, especially in C. comosum. Higher values of free SA were found in roots with a significant enhancement at concentrations of 40 and 160 mg kg−1 Cd. It was observed that citric acid significantly reacted in both species, while fumaric acid only in C. comosum in response to Cd which may contribute to Cd chelation. Our data indicate that both species are suitable for phytoextraction of Cd from contaminated soils which increases their value as ornamentals.

This paper studied the effect of Na2S2O3 on accumulation of mercury (Hg) by two common plant species selected, Chlorophytum comosum and Setcreasea purpurea, in medium containing 10 μg L−1 HgCl2. We compared the Hg accumulation in roots, stems and leaves of two plant species in medium with and without Na2S2O3. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of Na2S2O3 on Hg uptake and translocation by C. comosum and S. purpurea. The amount of Hg uptaken by two plant species was determined using cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry. The results demonstrated that Na2S2O3 inhibited the enrichment ability of two plant species selected to some extent.

Higher plants, including spider plants, are able to take up and degrade/detoxify various pollutants in the air. Although nearly 120 plant species have been tested for indoor air phytoremediation, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, data on particulate matter (PM) phytoremediation from indoor air are not yet available in literature. This work determined the ability of spider plants to take up PM, one of the most harmful pollutants to man, in the indoor air of five rooms housing different activities (a dental clinic, a perfume-bottling room, a suburban house, an apartment and an office). It was found that spider plants accumulate PM of both categories (water washable and trapped in waxes) and in all three size fractions determined and that the amount differed depending on the type of activity taking place in the particular rooms ranging from 13.62 to 19.79 μg/cm2. The amount of wax deposited on the leaves of plants grown in these rooms also differed (34.46–72.97 μg/cm2). The results of this study also demonstrated that the amount of PM accumulated on aluminium plates was always significantly lower than that accumulated on the plants’ leaves, showing that more than simply gravity forces are involved in PM accumulation on leaf blades.

Though phytoremediation of petroleum pollution has been studied widely, rare literature has expounded the physiological and microecological distinctions among diesel-degrading plants. A pot experiment was conducted to detect the diesel-degrading potential of six flowering plants. At the end of the experiment, Chlorophytum comosum, Pericallis hybrida, Altemanthera ficoidea, Oxalis corymbosa, Calendula officinalis, and Viola tricolor removed 54.3–55.0, 54.1–67.7, 57.3–62.0, 57.4–62.0, 58.8–69.0, and 64.5–76.3% of diesel hydrocarbons, respectively. Therefore, C. comosum was chosen as an incompetent diesel-degrading plant, and V. tricolor as a competent one. Both root and shoot biomass of the two chosen plants decreased sharply when subjected to diesel pollutants. However, V. tricolor rather than C. comosum succeeded to adjust carbon allocation from shoots to roots. Fluorescein diacetate hydrolase and polyphenoloxidase were more active in the V. tricolor rhizosphere than those in the C. comosum rhizosphere. Contrarily, activities of invertase and alkaline phosphatase were much higher in the rhizosphere of C. comosum. In the V. tricolor rhizosphere, microbial community was dominated by 15:0, i15:0, cy17:0, 16:1ω5c, and 18:1ω5c indicators. However, 18:1ω7c, 18:0, 10Me18:0, i13:0 and a14:0 were predominant in the rhizosphere of C. comosum. These results provide valuable information for us to understand the mechanism of phytoremediation.

The concentration of benzene in indoor air has received appreciable attention due to its adverse health effects. Although phytoremediation has been considered as an eco-friendly method to remove benzene, it is unclear how to select plants with a high removal rate. In this study, we evaluated the benzene removal efficiency of four common ornamental plants, Epipremnum aureum, Chlorophytum comosum, Hedera helix and Echinopsis tubiflora, and we also explored the factors impacting benzene removal efficiency. The removal efficiency of all plants in this study averaged at 72 percent. The benzene absorption rates of Epipremnum aureum, Hedera helix and Chlorophytum comosum were 1.10, 0.85 and 0.27 &micro, g&middot, m&minus, 3&middot, cm&minus, 2, respectively. This is due to the different transpiration rates and chlorophyll concentrations in the plants. The benzene removal efficiency of crassulacean acid metabolism plant (Echinopsis tubiflora) was 23% higher than C3 plant (Epipremnum aureum) under dark conditions. This can be attributed to the fact that the characteristic of Echinopsis tubiflora stomata is different from Epipremnum aureum stomata, which is still open under dark conditions. Therefore, Echinopsis tubiflora can take up more benzene than Epipremnum aureum. For different initial benzene concentrations, the benzene removal efficiency of Echinopsis tubiflora was always great (50&ndash, 80%), owing to its high rate of transpiration and concentration of chlorophyll. Our findings indicate that transpiration rate and chlorophyll concentration can be used as reference parameters to facilitate ornamental plant screening for indoor air quality improvement.

Fifteen plant species-Alternanthera bettzickiana, Drimiopsis botryoides, Aloe vera, Chlorophytum comosum, Aglaonema commutatum, Cordyline fruticosa, Philodendron martianum, Sansevieria hyacinthoides, Aglaonema rotundum, Fittonia albivenis, Muehlenbeckia platyclada, Tradescantia spathacea, Guzmania lingulata, Zamioculcas zamiifolia, and Cyperus alternifolius-were evaluated for the removal efficiency of xylene from contaminated air. Among the test plants, Z. zamiifolia showed the highest xylene removal efficiency. Xylene was toxic to Z. zamiifolia with an LC50 of 3,464 ppm. Higher concentrations of xylene exhibited damage symptoms, including leaf tips turning yellow, holonecrosis, and hydrosis. TEM images showed that a low concentration of xylene vapors caused minor changes in the chloroplast, while a high concentration caused swollen chloroplasts and damage. The effect of photosynthetic types on xylene removal efficiency suggests that a mixture of Z. zamiifolia, S. hyacinthoides, and A. commutatum which represent facultative CAM, CAM, and C3 plants, is the most suitable system for xylene removal. Therefore, for maximum improvement in removing xylene volatile compounds under various conditions, multiple species are needed. The effect of a plant's total leaf area on xylene removal indicates that at lower concentrations of xylene, a small leaf area might be as efficient as a large leaf area.

Rapid development of industry and unceasing emergence of factories lead to an increased soil pollution and make it an urgent and rigorous environmental issue worldwide.During which,one of the most serious problems is metal pollution due to the growing risk of heavy metal uptake by human and livestock.Copper is an essential element for all organisms at low concentrations,while it is toxic when absorbed excessively.The normal concentration of copper in plant tissues is 5—20 mg/kg,and the toxicity effects are likely to occur if it exceeds the upper limit.During recent decades,in comparison with physical and chemical remediation,phytoremediation had been reported to be more effective,non-intrusive and less expensive.All these characteristics together with the aesthetically pleasing feature make it the most socially approved technology to remediate polluted soil.Ornamental plant has become a novel source of phytoremediation species due to their multi-functions: pollution monitoring and control as well as landscaping.Extensive studies of the tolerance and accumulation of heavy metal by plants underpinned their utilizations in the restoration of heavy metal contaminated soil.Phytoextraction,a form of phytoremediation,is one example of applying plants to remove contaminants from soil by concentrating them in the havrvestable parts and based on the hyper-accumulation capacity of heavy metal by certain species.To improve metal enrichment of plants,chelators could be used as activators of metal to facilitate the procedure of plants to absorb available metal.Citric acid(CA),a natural metal chelator,is a kind of low-molecular-weight organic acids(LMWOAs).And ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid(EDTA) is a representative kind of artificially synthesized metal chelators.Recently,numerous articles focused on the researches about activation of heavy metal by chelators. This paper explored the effects of CA and EDTA on the growth of Chlorophytum comosum,a type of ornamental plants,in copper-contaminated soil by pot-planting.The experiments included effects of CA and EDTA on content of available copper in soil,copper enrichment,morphological indicators,biomass,some physiological indexes and activities of antioxidant enzymes of C.comosum.The results showed that,the relationship,between influence of CA and EDTA on copper enrichment of C.comosum and capability of them on activating copper in soil,was a significantly positive correlation.CA could effectively improve the ability on copper absorption of C.comosum through activating copper in soil,and the best concentration was 5mmol/L.However,higher metal enrichment inhibited the growth of plants,so the morphological indicators and biomass of C.comosum both showed a crosscurrent to the trend of copper enrichment uner treatments of CA.The influence of EDTA on copper enrichment of C.comosum was less intensively,and the effects on growth of C.comosum was also not significant.In contrast,the effects of CA on growth of C.comosum in copper-contaminated soil was superior to EDTA,which provided theoretical foundation and scientific basis for widely applying CA and EDTA in phytoremediation.

Experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of phosphate fertilization on chemical speciation of cadmium (Cd) in the rhizospheric soil of Chlorophytum comosum, a potential cadmium hyperaccumulator. The results revealed that when 200 mg kg−1 phosphate was applied into the soil, the Cd contents in the exchangeable fraction (EXC), carbonate-binding fraction (CA), and Fe–Mn oxides-binding fraction (Fe–Mn) were the highest, and the Cd content in the residual fraction (RES) was the lowest. Phosphate fertilization could enhance Cd conversion from RES into CA and weak RES, thereby improving the bioavailability of Cd and enhancing Cd enrichment and adsorption by C. comosum. The total Cd content in the soil was reduced by 10.15 mg kg−1 in the planted group, which was significantly different from the control group (p

We conducted laboratory tests with six species of plants to determine their ability to remove benzene, trichloroethylene (TCE) and toluene from air. The objective of this proof-of-principal study was to evaluate the idea that phytoremediation techniques might be used to lower the concentrations of indoor air pollutants, such as volatile or semi-volatile organic compounds. Plants were exposed to the pollutants singly or in mixtures in an airtight chamber, and concentrations of the pollutants in the chamber were monitored through time to assess plant effects on the pollutants. In several experiments, we measured air temperature and CO2, as well. Lower surfaces of leaves of several of the species we tested were also examined by scanning electron microscopy to determine stomate abundance and size, and to provide information about leaf-surface elemental composition (by X-ray emission spectroscopy). Several of the species demonstrated an extensive ability to remove benzene from air. Gas chromatography methods allowed a reasonably direct, continuous monitoring of the kinetics and overall efficiency of the pollutant-removal process. We found that pollutant removal efficiency varied in response to plant species and the pollutant. Of the pollutants tested, benzene was most efficiently removed from air by Pelargonium domesticum, Ficus elastica and Chlorophytum comosum. Kalanchoe blossfeldiana, a common ornamental plant, appeared to take up benzene selectively over toluene, and TCE was removed efficiently from the air by C. comosum. Pentane, sometimes used as an internal standard in GC/MS, was removed from air by at least four of the species. For C. comosum, TCE appeared to lower the removal rates of benzene and pentane. Low-vacuum scanning electron microscopy provided information on stomate size and density and permitted rapid initial elemental analysis of the plant-leaf surface by X-ray emission spectroscopy. Our results indicate that simple tests for pollutant uptake, morphological and chemical features of plants, and plant detoxification enzyme activity might be used in multivariate fashion to identify plant species capable of removing volatile or semi-volatile pollutants from air.

Air borne uptake of toluene and ethylbenzene by twelve plant species was examined. Of the twelve plant species examined, the highest toluene removal was found in Sansevieria trifasciata, while the ethylbenzene removal from air was with Chlorophytum comosum. Toluene and ethylbenzene can penetrate the plant׳s cuticle. However, the removal rates do not appear to be correlated with numbers of stomata per plant. It was found that wax of S. trifasciata and Sansevieria hyacinthoides had greater absorption of toluene and ethylbenzene, and it contained high hexadecanoic acid. Hexadecanoic acid might be involved in toluene and ethylbenzene adsorption by cuticles wax of plants. Chlorophyll fluorescence analysis or the potential quantum yield of PSII (Fv/Fm) in toluene exposed plants showed no significant differences between the control and the treated plants, whereas plants exposed to ethylbenzene showed significant differences or those parameters, specifically in Dracaena deremensis (Lemon lime), Dracaena sanderiana, Kalanchoe blossfeldiana, and Cordyline fruticosa. The Fv/Fm ratio can give insight into the ability of plants to tolerate (indoor) air pollution by volatile organic chemicals (VOC). This index can be used for identification of suitable plants for treating/sequestering VOCs in contaminated air.