Are there poisonous mangoes in Kerala? Truth behind the deadly fruit in viral videos

Scroll through Instagram long enough and you are bound to see it. A yellow-green fruit, vaguely mango-like, usually pictured near a riverbank. The caption is dramatic. Kerala has poisonous mangoes. Eat one and you could die. Some videos go further and call it the fruit of the infamous “suicide tree”.

It sounds terrifying. It is also wrong.

Kerala does have a deadly fruit that grows near rivers and backwaters. It is not a mango. It does not belong to the mango family. And confusing the two is how misinformation quietly takes root online.

Let’s untangle the story.

The fruit behind the rumours
The plant at the centre of these viral claims is Cerbera odollam, commonly known as the suicide tree. It grows naturally along coastal regions, riverbanks, wetlands and backwaters in Kerala and parts of South and Southeast Asia.

Its fruit is round or oval, green when raw and turning yellow as it ripens. To the untrained eye, it can look a bit like a small mango or a cross between a mango and an apple. That resemblance is where the trouble begins.

Cerbera odollam belongs to the Apocynaceae family, which includes oleander and frangipani. Mangoes, on the other hand, belong to the Anacardiaceae family. Botanically, the two are not even distant cousins.

Why Cerbera odollam is genuinely dangerous
The suicide tree has earned its grim nickname for a reason. Its seeds contain cerberin, a potent cardiac glycoside that interferes with heart function. Ingesting it can cause fatal heart rhythm disturbances.

Multiple scientific studies have documented its role in poisoning cases in Kerala. A paper published in Forensic Science International details how Cerbera odollam has been used in suicides and homicides due to the difficulty of detecting cerberin in routine toxicology tests. Research indexed on ResearchGate and ScienceDirect has described it as a significant cause of plant-based poisoning deaths in the state.

The fruit is not edible in any form. Even handling the seed without care is discouraged.

Does it really grow near water?
Yes. This is one part the viral videos get right.

Cerbera odollam thrives in wet, marshy environments. According to species data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, it is commonly found along rivers, canals, lagoons and coastal backwaters. This ecological preference explains why locals often associate it with water bodies.

Why it keeps getting called a mango
The confusion is partly visual and partly linguistic.

In Malayalam, Cerbera odollam is known by names such as othalanga or odollam. The fruit’s size and colour invite lazy comparisons to mangoes, especially in short-form video content that prioritises shock over accuracy.

Once a reel labels it “poisonous mango”, the idea spreads faster than a correction ever could.

There are no known mango varieties in Kerala that are naturally deadly. This includes wild mangoes and local cultivars. Mango trees growing near rivers, ponds or canals are not poisonous by default. The toxicity of Cerbera odollam has nothing to do with mangoes, soil conditions or proximity to water.

Calling the suicide tree a mango is like calling a cobra a worm because both live on the ground.

A plant that harms and heals
Interestingly, Cerbera odollam is not just a poison. Parts of the plant have been used in traditional medicine in carefully controlled ways, particularly in external applications. This dual nature is common in toxic plants, where dosage and preparation make all the difference between remedy and risk.

Still, modern medical advice is clear. This is not a plant to experiment with.