Cerbera Odollam (The Suicide Tree) - The Perfect Murder Weapon

Nature has given us a lot of beautiful things but on the other hand, we should not be carried away by natures beauty as some of them are very deadly. In as much as we have plants like mangoes, oranges, guavas etc which are highly nutritious and beneficial to health, we also have deadly and poisonous plants that have toxins capable of killing within a short period of time.

Permit me to introduce you to "The Cerbera Odollam". It is a tree with perfect beauty, but its beauty is nothing compared to its poisonous nature. In most cases it can be called the "murder tree" or "suicide tree" and believe me, it is a no go area if you wish to live. Nature too can be a lot more scary at times.

The Discovery

Too bad, the Cerbera Odollam got its nickname based on the fact that it is believed that it is used by more people to commit suicide than any other plant on earth.

This tree kills a large number of people especially in the Indian communities. This was gotten from a study done by a team decades long ago.

The team that did the study was led by Yvan Gaillard of the Laboratory of Analytical Toxicology in La Voulte-sur-Rhone, France, documented over 500 cases of fatal cerbera poisoning between the period of 1989 and 1999 in the Indian state of Kerala. Hence, half of plant poisoning death cases here and in more than 10 poisoning death overall, can be traced down to Cerbero.

The recorded cases of this deadly plant has taken a darker dimension, you may choose to believe or not. Hence, the reason why Gaillard has described the plant as being "perfect" for murder. It is a powerful and perfect killer weapon that can easily fly under the radar, even medical professional may not detect it.

Biological Description

The Cerbera Odollam is a dicotyledonous angiosperm plant which belongs to the Apocynaceae family and is commonly referred to as the suicide tree. Reasons for the name was described in the paragraph above. Imagine the kind of name given to a plant. This means the rate at which it can cause death can not be overemphasized.

The plant specie was discovered in India and other parts of Southern Asia which preferentially grows in the Coastal Salt Swamp and in marshy areas. It may also grow as a hedge plant between home compounds.

Cerbera Odollam is a potential poisonous plant as its toxins has been used for suicide and murder. Hence, the reason for them names ("murder plant" and "suicide plant").

Physical Description

The Cerbera Odollam has similar looks with Oleandar. This is another toxic plant from the same family with Cerbera Odollam. The branches of Cerbera Odollam are seen to be whorled about the trunk, with its leaves terminally crowded.

The also plant produces a milky, white latex

When the fruit of the tree are still green, they look like a small mango with fibrous green shell which encloses an ovoid kernel measuring 2cm x 1.5cm approximately.

The kernel turns violet when exposed to air, then dark grey and ultimately brown or black.

Image Credit: wikimedia

Toxin Content/Nature

Cerberin is the compound that is responsible for all the havoc caused by the Odollam tree. It is a digoxin-type cardenolide and cardiac glycoside toxin that blocks the calcium ion channel in the heart muscle, thereby causing a disruption in the heart beat which is likely to be fatal.

Deceiving Importance

Cerberin which is a cardiac glycoside, a class of organic compound responsible for slowing one's heart rate is suspected to be used in some medications though not certain or proven, but it is obvious that a little too much of it will be very bad.

The fruit can also be used in the production of bio-insecticide and deodorants.

It is also used to produce rat poison.

I refer to this heading as "Deceiving Importance" because despite the few importance which are not concrete, it still can not be compared with the destructive nature of the plant.

How its poison works

The Cerbera Odollam seed, contains enough cerberin to kill an adult human. it works by stopping your heart which is the same with the death penalty by lethal injection. Ingesting a seed will kill a human in few hours, but it will be accompanied by some adverse discomfort which are; crippling stomach pain, diarrhea, irregular heart beat, severe headache and nausea vomiting. A more fatal dose of the toxin is believed to be contained in one kernel leading to death in few hours which is accompanied by the following common symptoms:

• Burning sensation in mouth
• Violent vomiting
• Irregular heartbeat
• Irregular respiration
• Severe headache
• Expurgation
• Coma and eventual death

A More Complicated Issue

Testing for Cerberin poisoning is very costly and may likely require the effective use of liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry which might not be available in so many locations.

The toxin is often hard to detect and can also be easily masked in spicy foods. Hence, study about the plant suggest that some cases which were referred to as suicide, may actually have been murders in real sense.

Good News/Possible Remedy if Ingested

People who must have in one way or other ingested the seed of Cerbera Odollam or its toxin may still have a chance of surviving as an Antidote known as Digibind is said to exist and works well in counteracting the toxin. Hey, Best of luck with that.

THE SUICIDE TREE CAUSE SLOW AND PAINFUL DEATH: Therefore it should be highly avoided.

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References:

1. Wikipedia: Cerbera odollam
2. Nature's Poison: Cerberin- The Heartbreaker of the Suicide Tree
3. The Suicide Tree
4. The brutal harvest of India’s ‘suicide tree’
5. Curiosity: The Toxin in the Suicide tree
6. Theblemish: What Exactly Is the Pong Seed and How Is It Killing People?

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