BOTANICAL MUSEUM LEAFLETS VOL. 27, No. 1-2 
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1979, 
THE IDENTITY OF AMAZONIAN AND TRUJILLO 
COCA 
TIMOTHY PLOWMAN! 
In the course of preparing a taxonomic treatment of the culti- 
vated species of Erythroxylum?, it has become necessary to 
make some nomenclatural additions and changes. 
The cultivated coca plants of South America are generally 
considered to belong to two species of Erythroxylum: E. Coca 
Lam., which includes so-called Bolivian or Huanuco coca, and 
E. novogranatense (Morris) Hieron., which is Colombian coca 
(Plowman, 1979a). Both of these species have one distinct culti- 
vated variety. Since they were first recognized, these varieties 
have been the source of considerable taxonomic confusion and 
misinterpretation in both the botanical and pharmaceutical 
literature. 
The coca which is typical of the Amazon basin, known as 
Amazonian coca, is a variety of Erythroxylum Coca. Trujillo 
coca, which is grown primarily on the north coast of Peru, isa 
variety of E. novogranatense. Both of these varieties will be 
discussed in greater detail in separate papers now in preparation. 
My intention here is to identify these cultivated taxa with correct 
scientific names, descriptions and with the designation of types. 
In view of the current broad interest in coca and its derivatives, 
it is essential to stabilize the names of the plants without further 
delay. 
AMAZONIAN COCA 
Erythroxylum Coca is the most important commercial species 
of coca, furnishing by far the greatest portion of the world’s 
' Assistant Curator, Botany Department, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, 
Illinois 60605, and Research Associate, Botanical Museum of Harvard University, 
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138. 
2Botanists have not been consistent in the spelling of the generic name of coca. For a 
discussion of the correct orthography of Erythroxylum, see Plowman (1976). 
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