outcrossing species. As a result, Amazonian coca rarely if ever 
produces viable seed. Even though fruits may be formed, at 
times in abundance, the seeds are devoid of embryos and/or 
endosperm and will not germinate. 
Amazonian coca appears to cross readily with long-styled 
morphs of its Andean counterpart. Experimental reciprocal 
crosses in the greenhouse produced normal offspring. These 
plants have not yet reached flowering size, so their degree of 
fertility cannot be reported at this time. 
Amazonian coca is apparently known only in cultivation and 
is incapable of competing with the dense secondary vegetation 
which grows up after cultivated plots are abandoned. In this 
feature, it further differs from Andean E. Coca, which fre- 
quently escapes and forms a component of the forest understory 
in forested areas around coca plantations (Plowman, 1979a). 
Amazonian coca also differs in the manner of preparation of 
the leaves for chewing. The leaves are always toasted to dryness 
and pulverized in a mortar and pestle. The resulting powder is 
then mixed with the ashes of leaves of Cecropia or Pourouma 
species (Moraceae). 
Martius made the first collections of Amazonian coca during 
his sojourn in the Brazilian Amazon in 1819-1820. He described 
in detail the unique preparation and use of the plant (Spix & 
Martius, 1831) and later published a description and illustration 
of Amazonian coca under the name Erythroxylum Coca Lam., 
since he considered it to be the same as the Peruvian plant 
described by earlier authors (Martius, 1843). 
There has been only one other attempt to name Amazonian 
coca scientifically; and this was the result of an unfortunate 
error in identification. In the 1870’s, a variety of coca was intro- 
duced from Europe into cultivation on the island of Java. In 
1890, this plant, which became known in the trade as “Java 
coca”, was described as a new variety by the Dutch botanist 
Burck working at the Botanical Gardens at Bogor (Buitenzorg). 
Burck named the plant Erythroxylum Coca var. Spruceanum 
commemorating Richard Spruce, the famous English botanist 
who made extensive plant collections in the Amazon region in 
the mid-19th century. 
In 1889, Morris a botanist at the Royal Botanic Gardens at 
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