By the time I'd started my professional career in the mid-1990s, open plan offices were becoming common. Under the guise of promoting better collaboration and interaction between colleagues, and with the financial motivation of packing more people into the available office space, we have seen that move to the more impersonal hot-desking movement. But while the idea that removing the walls in our offices can only help us collaborate and communicate more, a new study finds that the opposite is the case.

Indoor plants clean the air, make our spaces look great, and could also boost productivity. But choosing the right kind of indoor plant will depend on the kind of light we have and whether or not we tend to kill plants. That's where this flowchart comes in.