If you were one of the millions of people who tuned in to the third season of HBO’s “The White Lotus” then you already know that the Pong Pong Tree and its poisonous fruit looms over the drama.
What you might not know is that the tree, or Cerbera odollam, is real. The team at “Something Offbeat” wanted to learn more about it.
“I started having friends ask me, is that real? My girlfriend said, oh my god, Pong Pong Tree, what a funny name,” said Ben Naman, director of Medicinal Plants Research at the San Diego Botanic Garden. “Is that a real thing? And so, I had to look it up and then realize that I actually know this plant. And I just happened to have known it by another name.”
He digs into how realistic the depiction of the Pong Pong tree is on “The White Lotus” and everything we need to know about it with host Mike Rogers. Listen to their full conversation here.
Each week, “Something Offbeat” takes a deeper look at an unusual headline. If you have suggestions for stories the podcast should cover, send them to us at somethingoffbeat@audacy.com.