The Coca Plant :: Botany

The Coca PlantErythroxylum coca Lamark is a equatorial shrub of the order Geraniales and the family Erythroxylaceae. Two tropical genera of the dicotyledons totaling approximately 250 species of trees and shrubs roll up this family. Family characteristics atomic number 18 alternate, undivided, lobeless, toothless leaves, and small flowers in clusters from the leaf axils with persistent calyces with volt lobes or sepals, five petals often with appendages, ten persistent stamens united at their bases, and three styles. The fruits are small drupes. (see Everett, 1981and Angiosperms in Brittanica Online) The name Erythroxylum comes from the Grecian erythros, red, and xylon wood. Lamarck described the species E. coca in 1786. (Plowman,1982) DistributionErythroxylum coca is cultured in Africa, northern South America, southeast Asia, and Taiwan. It grows from 2-4m (8 feet) tall. The plants thrive best in hot, damp situations, such as the clearing of forests, but the leaves most favor ed are obtained in drier locations, such as on the sides of hills. (Boucher) The Plants are found mainly in relatively small areas of Peru and Bolivia, the major producing countries. The f number Huallaga Valley, along a tributary of the Amazon in Peru, produces 60% of the worlds coca. In Bolivia, the crop traditionally was grown on steep eastern slopes of the Yungas sphere of the Andes Mountains at elevations of 1000 to 2000 meters. However, in recent decades, the lower-elevation Chapare Valley overtook the Yungas in production, and finishing is now expanding into lowland rain forests. (see Coca in Britannica Online) History & tralatitious UsesArchaeological evidence indicates that coca was domesticated by 1500 BC. In pre-Columbian times, coca was a major element of the economy (Hastdorf, 1987). Andean peasants and miners traditionally become consumed coca by sucking wads of leaves, keeping them in their cheeks for hours at a time. Often the coca is combined with chalk or ash, which helps dissolve the alkaloids into saliva. Coca chewing reduces hunger pain, and workers say the leaves give them medium and endurance to work for many hours at high altitudes, often in extreme cold. Some of the healthiest and hardest-working Indians on the Colombian Amazon the Yukunas consume terrible amounts of coca leaves daily, but this not a problem as they have time to raise their crops, hunt, fish and supply their food. (Linales) Perhaps the most ancient use of coca in South America is its employment in various shaman practices and religious rituals.