TtittVAWt 2, 186.5. | TTTE TROPICAL AGRlCTTLTtmiSf. 



(>2$ 



cocaine turns out to boa cure for this fearful affec- 

 tion of the nerve*, the benefit to suffering humanity 

 will be bejond calculation great. 



We have thus, with some pains, brought together the 

 mam facts connected with this "new product" and 

 if the demand for the alkaloid continues large, we 

 cannot doubt tl at the Ceylon planters will do their 

 part iu supplying abundance of the leaves in the 

 host possible condition. 



ERVT1IKOXYLON COOA* 

 Lamarck, Diet, ii, p. 393 (1786). 



COCA. COCHUc'O. HAVO. IPAUV. 



Figures.— Cavanilles, Diss., t. 229; Oompend. Iiot. Mag., 

 ii, t. 21; Le Maout k, Dec, p. 295; Baill., Hist., pi. v, 

 figs. 80-87. 



Description. — A small shrub of 2 — 4 feet or more highfj 

 bushy and much branched, with a purplish-brown wrinkled 

 bark, the young twigs smooth. Leaves closely placed, al- 

 ternate, shortly-stalked, 1-2 inches long, lanceolate or oval, 

 rather attenuated in to the petiole, usually blunt and emargin- 

 ate with a small apiculus iu the notch at the apex, per- 

 fectly entire, soon falling:, rather thin, bright green above, 

 paler and glaucous beneath, quite glabrous, midrib pro- 

 minent, lateral veins numerous, faint, freely anastomosing; 

 on either side of the midrib as far as a well-defined, curved, 

 raised line less than midway between it and the margin 

 of the leaf and extending from base to apex, the surface 

 is somewhat concave, paler in colour and with the veins 

 less prominent; stipules small, eauline, combined along 

 their inner edge to form a single, triangular, acute, dent- 

 iculate organ between the petiole and the stem (intra- 

 petiolar), very persistent, at first thin, greenish, and trans- 

 parent, afterwards, when the leaves have fallen, brown, 

 stilt', and almost spinous, and marked on the back at the 

 base by the scar of the petiole. Flowers small, on slender, 

 drooping, glabrousstalks about \ inch long, 3 or 4 together in 

 the axils of the leaves or of the persistent stipules, with 

 several small broad bracts at the base. Calyx very deeply 

 cut into 5 triangular-ovate, acute, glabrous segments. ] 'etals 

 5, alternating with the calyx-lobes, imbricate, with a broad 

 caw, and a broadly oval-oblong, spreading, concave, obtuse 

 limb, pale yellow, provided at the point of junction of 

 limb and claw with an erect scale (ligula), which is very 

 deeply bifid with the two lobes crisped at the margins 

 and a reflexed tongue between them. StameujS 10, hypo- 

 gynous, equal, longer than the petals, erect, united at the 

 baso into a short, fleshy tube surrounding the ovary, fila- 

 ments white, smooth, anthers oblong, yellow, basifixed. 

 Ovary superior, ovoid, smooth, normally 3-celled, but usu- 

 ally 1-celled, the others being abortive, ovule solitary, 

 styles 3, erect, cylindrical, green, stigmas capitate. Fruit 

 a small indehiscent drupe less than h inch long, oblong- 

 ovoid, pointed, surrounded at the base by the persistent 

 calyx and staminal tube, smooth (furrowed when dry >, red, 

 sarcocarp scanty, eudocarp thin. .Seed filling the endocarp, 

 with a thin testa, embryo straight with a superior radicle 

 and flat cotyledons, in the axis of cartilaginous endosperm. 



Habitat. — The Ooca is cultivated to a very large extent 

 in the Andes of Peru and in Bolivia and Colombia, especi- 

 ally in the very moist mild climate met with at from 

 2,000 — 5,000 feet above sea-level or higher; it is also now 

 grown in parts of Brazil, the Argentine States, and other 

 countries of South America. Though without doubt a native 

 of some of the same districts, it is scarcely known in a 

 wild state ; Poeppig considered it so at Cuchero and on 

 the summit of the Cerro de San Cristobal in Peru, but 

 Weddell in Bolivia only saw the cultivated plant. 



The plantations (called " cocals ") are always formed on 

 the steep warm declivities of the mountains, the original 

 forebt growth being cleared for the purpose. The largest 

 and most productive are in the province of La Paz in 

 Bolivia. The Coca plants are said to resemble in habit 

 small black-thorn bushes, and the nearly inodorous flowers 

 are abundantly produced. 



It is scarcely possible to mistake the leaves of Coca for 

 those of any other plant, the two longitudinal arched lines 



* Coca* the native name ; meaning 

 par excellence. 



7'.' 



ili«- "tree" or "plant" 



on the under surface being characteristic. These, which 

 are found in several other species of lirythroxylort, are 

 not, as often described, veina or nerves, but folds or creaseR 

 produced by the mode in which the leaves are packed in 

 the bud. A fully grown leaf is shewn in the woodcut. 

 drawn from a specimen from Bolivia in the British Museum, 



The precise date of the introduction of Coca into Eng- 

 land we have not ascertained, but it was probably not 

 many years previously to 1870; specimens are now to be 

 seen in the houses of several of our botanic gardens 



Part Vied and Name.— Ooca.; the dried leaves. It is not 

 official in the British Pharmacopeia, the Pharmacopoeia of 

 India, or the Pharmacopceia of the United States. But 

 Coca was in general use by the natives of Peru at the 

 time of the conquest of that country, and has continued to 

 be more or less extensively employed up to the present time. 



( \}ll(itiun, Preparation, and Commerce. — Much care is taken 

 in the gathering, drying, and preservation of coca, as its 

 activity and value depend in a great measure on its mode 

 of preparation. Some differences in detail occur in the col- 

 leciion and preparation of coca in different districts, but 

 as a general rule the processes are a s follows : — The leaves are 

 gathered as soon as ihey have arrived at maturity, at which 

 period they are bright-green on their upper surface, and 

 yellowish-green on their under surface ; and have an agree- 

 able and somewhat aromatic odour. The leaves are gathered 

 separately and carefully by the hand, with the two- 

 fold object of preventing them being crushed or bruised 

 in the process ; and also so as not to injure the young 

 leaf-buds which are left behind, for the purpose of obtain- 

 ing a second crop of leaves. They are then carried away 

 in baskets, and spread out on paved surfaces, or on the 

 floors in the courts of the houses, or sometimes on woollen 

 cloths , and dried slowly in. the sun. This operation re- 

 quires great care, for if the leaves be dried too rapidly, 

 they los» their odour and green colour ; and if stored away 

 before they are thoroughly dried their colour isalso changed, 

 and they acquire a disagreeable odour and taste. In 

 some districts the leaves are occasionally trampled over 

 while they are damp, under the impression, it is said that 

 they I bus acquire a delicate flavour and smell ; but also, 

 probably, Id preserve their flatness in the drying process. 

 After being dried, the leaves are either stored in barns 

 or huts ; or packed iu bags or bales, in which they are 

 pressed by treadiug. and are thus transported to a dis- 

 tance. These bags or bales (cestui) appear to differ very 

 much in size, their weight being variously given by authors 

 at from 24 to 150 lb. As the properties of coca arc in- 

 jured by transportation, and often by keeping, it would 

 probably be best preserved in cases or packages lined with 

 tin, or at least in well-closed pots to protect it from air 

 and moisture. The produce of coca per acre in a good 

 harvest is estimated by Weddell at about 000 lb.; and in 

 some districts there are three or even four harvests in 

 the year. The total produce of coca is probably not less 

 than 40,000.000 lb., which estimating the value, on an 

 average at the low price of one shilling per pound (for 

 the best qualities yield at least five shillings) in the countries 

 in which it is produced, would represent a total value of 

 £2,000,000 ; so that coca is by no means an unimportant 

 article of commerce, and its production is moreover de- 

 scribed as being very remunerative. It is chiefly exported 

 from Lima. 



General Characters and Composition. — Commercial speci- 

 mens of coca either consist of the leaves more or less pressed 

 together in compact masses, or of the leaves in a loose 

 state or separate from one another. In either case the 

 leaves are not curved or rolled hi any degree, but per- 

 fectly flat. When carefully prepared the leaves are un- 

 broken, of a fine green colour, and a delicate agreeable 

 somewhat aromatic odour, which is at once perceptible 

 when they are bruised, and which has been compared to 

 the 'combined odour of hay and chocolate; but specimens 

 are often met with iu which the green colour is replaced 

 by brownish, yellowish, or reddish-brown tints, and the 

 odour lost, or of a more or less disagreeable character. 

 Ooca when fresh has a somewhat aromatic and slightly 

 bitter taste; and when carefully dried it has a similar 

 tlavour; but in other cases its aroma is lost, and it is 

 simply bitter and disagreeable. Coca of commerce varies 

 very much indeed in quality. 

 Ooca has been analysed by Niemann, Stanislas Martin 



