What Is the ‘White Lotus’ Suicide Fruit? Pong-Pong Tree’s Fatal Seed in Finale Explained

The “suicide fruit” of the pong-pong tree played a critical role in The White Lotus season 3’s finale. Life & Style breaks down the plant and its fatal properties, and how it was included in the Max series.

What Is the ‘Suicide Fruit’ Featured in ‘The White Lotus’ Season 3 Finale?

The pong-pong tree, also known as Cerbera odollam, produces a plant, which has seeds that are poisonous when ingested. The seeds — which are about the size of a peach pit — contain the highly toxic cardiac glycoside cerberin, which can cause “disrupted cardiac electrical activity” leading to cardiac arrest, according to the National Institutes of Health.

National Geographic notes that even a “very small dose can be fatal,” although some people have survived poisonings from pong-pong tree seeds.

The first symptoms of a poisoning set in within “20 to 30 minutes,” the publication explained, as the human body tries to flush cerberin from the body through vomiting and diarrhea. Within an hour, the poison will affect the heart, causing “palpitations and dysrhythmias that escalate to heart failure.”

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Where Is the Pong-Pong Tree Found?

The pong-pong tree is native to Thailand — the setting for The White Lotus season 3 — and throughout Southeast Asia. It’s also found in India and several countries in East Africa.

The Pong-Pong Tree Fruit Has Been Used in Suicides

Science Direct noted that the pong-pong tree seed “is frequently used for suicidal ingestion” in Southeast Asia.

In 2004, New Scientist cited a French team’s study that examined 500 documented cases of Cerbera poisoning over a 10-year span from 1989 through 1999 in India’s Kerala state. It noted, “Half of Kerala’s plant poisoning deaths, and one in 10 of all fatal poisonings, are put down to Cerbera.”

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How Was the Fruit From the Pong-Pong Tree Featured in ‘The White Lotus’ Season 3?

The fruit of the pong-pong tree was first noticed by Patrick Schwarzenegger‘s Saxon Ratliff when he and his family arrived at their villa at the White Lotus Thailand. He was warned by their heath mentor, Pam(Morgana O’Reilly), that the fruit was poisonous.

Saxon’s father, Timothy Ratliff — played by Jason Isaacs — grew desperate as season 3 unfolded after finding out all of his assets had been seized as part of a federal investigation into shady financial dealings.

Timothy hid the news from his pampered family, including wife Victoria Ratliff (Parker Posey) and their three children, Saxon, Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook) and Lochlan (Sam Nivola).

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As all of his family members with the exception of Lochlan revealed how they wouldn’t be able to live without their life of wealth and privilege, Timothy plotted to kill his wife and two of his kids. He found out from Pam that the seeds of the plant were the source of the poison from the “suicide tree.”

Timothy proceeded to pick a number of fruit and blended the toxic seeds. On their final night, he made piña coladas containing the fatal seeds and gave the drinks to everyone but Lochlan. However, the financier had a last-minute change of heart watching Saxon begin to down the fatal cocktail and knocked it out of his hand. Timothy told his other family members that the coconut milk was bad and thought he saved his family by not going through with his murder-suicide plan with the drinks.

The following morning, Lochlan decided to make a protein shake while the remnants of the seeds were still in the blender. He went into cardiac arrest after vomiting into the villa’s pool and was found near death by his dad. Lochlan ended up coming to and surviving the deadly drink, claiming to have seen “God” during the experience.

On the boat ride home while leaving the island, Timothy decided to come clean to his family, telling them their lives were about to change, but as long as they had each other, they would remain strong. He was last seen looking out to sea and smiling that they were all alive and together, while Victoria and their kids got ahold of their cell phones for the first time in a week, presumably finding out about their dad’s investigation and that that their home and assets had been seized.