Of all an indoor plant’s needs, none is more important to health and long life than the amount of light it receives. Light is the power source for the process of photosynthesis, by which the leaves produce sugars and starches to feed all parts of the plant.

One easy way to measure how much light is in a particular area is to simply hold your hand between the source of the light and the spot where the plant is to be set. The amount of shadow gives a rough indication of available light. If there is no shadow or if a shadow is difficult to see, then that is an indication of low light.

Plants generally are divided by light levels into the following three broad plant categories:

• High Light:
  This group includes plants that require full sun. Examples are: Ficus benjamina, Croton and Coleus
• Medium Light :
  This group includes plants that thrive in partial shade or the filtered light coming through a sheer curtain. Examples are Nolina, Bamboo palm, Golden palm, Croton, Dracaena marginata, Ficus benjamina (variegated types), Ficus lyrata, Christmas palm, Rex begonias
• Low Light :
  These are plants that get along on a minimum of illumination that can survive in indirect, shadowless light coming through a north-facing window.
  Examples are Calathea, Aspidistra, Ferns, Aechmea fasciata, Aglaonema, Chamaedores elegans (parlor palm), Neanthebella plam, Bamboo palm, Cissus rhombifolia (Grape Ivy), All Dracaena, Epipremnum (Pothos), Hedera, Kentia palm, Philodendron, Pigmy date palm, Pleomele reflexa , Rhapis palm, Syngonium, Sansevieria, Schefflera actinophylla, Spathiphyllum, Strelitzia (White bird of paradise).

Window light is generally one-directional and causes the part of the plant away from the light to stretch toward it; if you want a plant near a window to grow evenly, give it a quarter turn every day—or at least every time you water—so that all parts of the foliage will get equal light.

You can tell whether a plant is getting the right amount of light in the location where you have placed it by doing the following.

If the distance between the new leaves on its stems is greater than the distance between the older ones, the plant is stretching to get more light. Its stems indicate this by elongating, in some instances bending, toward the light source. In such a case, move the plant to a spot where it will get more light.

If the plant wilts during the hot part of the day, and the leaves begin to develop yellow and then brown patches, the plant is getting too much light. Move it back from the window or draw the curtains during the middle of the day. Another symptom of too much light is when the leaves start growing vertically as to “hide” from the sun by lessening surface area exposed to sun.

Ask for lighting conditions when you purchase a plant!!

Information taken from www.exoticangel.com