Paris, Nov. 24 (AFP): An Indian tree with poisonous fruit is used by more people to commit suicide than any other plant in the world and has a barely-investigated role in murder, French and Indian scientists say.

In Kerala alone, deaths from the cerbera odollam tree average almost one a week, they say. The scientists? investigations in the state show 537 deaths between 1989-1999 can be attributed to odollam poisonings, with the annual toll ranging from 11 to 103.