Erythroxylum coca.
Botanical name:
Erythroxylum coca Lam. Lineae. Coca. Spadic.
A shrub of the Peruvian Andes cultivated from early times for its leaves which are used as a masticatory. This use of the leaves under the name, coca, is common throughout the greater part of Peru, Quito, New Granada, and also on the banks of the Rio Negro, where it is known as spadic. It forms an article of commerce among the Indians and is largely cultivated in Bolivia. These leaves contain an alkaloid analogous to thein and exert, when chewed, a stimulant action.
Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World, 1919, was edited by U. P. Hedrick.
