Would you consider these to be succulents?

[anttisepp]

I also heard it earlier, but it's too difficult to imagine succulent plant with small amount of stomata and reduced transpiration level in comarison with common plants, working as a living filter Fast growing green plants with big biomass and large transpiration surface are much more suitable for this role.

[nachtkrabb]

I also heard it earlier, but it's too difficult to imagine succulent plant with small amount of stomata and reduced transpiration level in comarison with common plants, working as a living filter Fast growing green plants with big biomass and large transpiration surface are much more suitable for this role.

You do sound logical to me, Anttisepp. I just translated & repeated what I wrote up in my notes from what I read that somebody understood that the NASA had found out like a dummy (which I am when it comes to chemistry).
Unfortunately, this time I didn't keep the URL.
N.

[Tom in Tucson]

About (the former) Sansevieria trifasciata (let's ignore the renaming for a while):
According to a study by the NASA that plant filters Benzol, Formaldehyde, Trichlorethen, Xylols & Toluol out of the air.
Don't ask me how much or how those get into our air in the first place. But interesting, isn't it?
N.

Just hope I got the english names of thos e chemicals correctly....

[jerrytheplater]

About (the former) Sansevieria trifasciata (let's ignore the renaming for a while):
According to a study by the NASA that plant filters Benzol, Formaldehyde, Trichlorethen, Xylols & Toluol out of the air.
Don't ask me how much or how those get into our air in the first place. But interesting, isn't it?
N.

Just hope I got the english names of thos e chemicals correctly....

I wrote a fairly long reply last night, but lost my Internet connection and lost the post. Grr.

Trichloroethen is most likely Trichloroethylene, also known as Trichloroethene.

Toluol is also known as Toluene in the US. Add three Nitrates in a setup way over my ability now (no lab), and you get Trinitrotoluene, or TNT.

Xylol is usually called Xylene in the US.

A lot of them get into our home air by outgassing from foams in our furniture. Also from glues in plywoods etc. Insulation can be another source. Dry cleaning chemicals could be brought home on clothing.

[Mrs.Green]

ZZ grows on direct sun with cacti, it's very compact, low and has bright shiny green leaves. Winter it spends with adeniums, dry. So it's a kind of caudex maybe and xerophytic. Dracaena draco is a xerophytic and a bit succulent also but it needs more watering than succulents at early age.

..and still it often described as a ‘low light need’ plant.. From my own experience; that’s wrong. (The ZZ plant, just to clarify)

...yeessss... The ZZ plant can survive even low light tortures. But that just shows how strong it is and how well it can cope with loads of bad circumstances. But will it thrive beautifully? That's the other question.
N.

Surviving is one thing, thriving is another matter.. Personally I prefer my plants to thrive, not just survive. It’s not especially satisfactory ( for me at least) with plants just hanging on. To my surprise, or not actually, I just saw an ad from an online florist, describing Opuntias as cacti that would thrive well on a shelf..

[nachtkrabb]

..and still it often described as a ‘low light need’ plant.. From my own experience; that’s wrong. (The ZZ plant, just to clarify)

...yeessss... The ZZ plant can survive even low light tortures. But that just shows how strong it is and how well it can cope with loads of bad circumstances. But will it thrive beautifully? That's the other question.
N.

Surviving is one thing, thriving is another matter.. Personally I prefer my plants to thrive, not just survive. It’s not especially satisfactory ( for me at least) with plants just hanging on. To my surprise, or not actually, I just saw an ad from an online florist, describing Opuntias as cacti that would thrive well on a shelf..

I am sorry, I simply had to answer this to add a 4th level of quoting as it looks so nice -- but now the system cheats me and simply omits the innermost quote from anttisepp. What a pity.

No, what I really wanted to add as an answer to that florist-story: A friend of mine is a window dresser by trade & has worked as a florist for a couple of years. So she should know better. But she treats her plants as decoration only! Once in her house I remarked that an Opuntia upon the exhaust air-machine over the stove (ie a kind of shelf) were not thriving. Oh, she said, it is so well that they are so cheap, she had replaced them three or four times already. They never live long at that place.

...well... Then at least you know to whom you will never give some of your rooted cutlings, don't you?
N.

[jerrytheplater]

No, what I really wanted to add as an answer to that florist-story: A friend of mine is a window dresser by trade & has worked as a florist for a couple of years. So she should know better. But she treats her plants as decoration only! Once in her house I remarked that an Opuntia upon the exhaust air-machine over the stove (ie a kind of shelf) were not thriving. Oh, she said, it is so well that they are so cheap, she had replaced them three or four times already. They never live long at that place.

...well... Then at least you know to whom you will never give some of your rooted cutlings, don't you?
N.

Ha Ha. I got a good laugh out of this. I once gave a really nice pot of Euphorbia decaryi to a woman in my church that loves plants. I really thought she'd be able to grow it, with my coaching too. Not so. But, I'd give her another if she wanted it. She felt so bad that it died, she avoided me for a few months. I finally asked her about it and she told me, very sheepishly.

[nachtkrabb]

Ha Ha. I got a good laugh out of this. I once gave a really nice pot of Euphorbia decaryi to a woman in my church that loves plants. I really thought she'd be able to grow it, with my coaching too. Not so. But, I'd give her another if she wanted it. She felt so bad that it died, she avoided me for a few months. I finally asked her about it and she told me, very sheepishly.

But your acquaintance at least felt for her plant and was sorry that it didn't survive. So she really gives her very best, whatever that may be.
N.

[Mrs.Green]

No, what I really wanted to add as an answer to that florist-story: A friend of mine is a window dresser by trade & has worked as a florist for a couple of years. So she should know better. But she treats her plants as decoration only! Once in her house I remarked that an Opuntia upon the exhaust air-machine over the stove (ie a kind of shelf) were not thriving. Oh, she said, it is so well that they are so cheap, she had replaced them three or four times already. They never live long at that place.

...well... Then at least you know to whom you will never give some of your rooted cutlings, don't you?
N.

Treating live plants as ‘use and discard’ aren’t that unusual from what I have seen. As you friend says, it’s cheap, so why bother? You see the same attitude towards animals in many people also. The free or cheap kitten/puppy isn’t cute anymore or in fact needed more attention/work than a stuffed animal, so get rid of it, in one way or another and get a new one..

[nachtkrabb]

You are so right, Mrs. Green. It is abominable & heartless.
N.