VI. 
There are sundry substitutes for coca in the northwest Ama- 
zon. Probably a relatively large number of plants are involved, 
but only a few are known and have definitely been identified. 
Amongst the Witotos and Boras of the Rio Ampiyacu of 
Amazonian Peru, for example, at least two wild species of 
Erythroxylon are employed when, as the natives say, “there is 
no coca available.” These two species are E. fimbriatum (Plow- 
man, Schultes et Tovar 6878) and E. macrophyllum (Plowman, 
Schultes et Tovar 6879). Amongst the Kubeos of the Rio 
Vaupés of Colombia, EF. cataractarum (Schultes, pers. obs., no 
voucher specimen) may be used in lieu of real coca, even though 
there is no evidence of cocaine in this species. 
According to Zarucchi (Zarucchi 1383), E. cataractarum is 
known in the Rio Kuduyari area of the Vaupes as coca de 
pescado, undoubtedly because the fruit is eaten by fish as it 
drops in the river from the trees along the edge of the rapids. It 
is “almost as strong as ‘cocaina’ and is used by people who do 
not have a coca patch.” It is said to be a “very strong wild coca, 
one of the wild cocas used prior to the introduction of cultivated 
varieties; presently, the cultivated is preferred, because it is not 
so strong.” Another collector, Davis (Davis 151), reports that 
the Barasana Indians of the Rio Piraparana maintain that “this 
coca can be eaten” and that “it was the coca of our fathers.” 
Curiously, three apocynaceous plants were found to be so 
employed amongst the Witotos and Boras of the Rio Ampiyacu. 
The leaves of the large and well known tree Couma macrocarpa 
(Plowman, Schultes et Tovar, pers. obs.; no voucher specimen), 
source of a latex valuable as gum and known in Brazil as sorva, 
in Colombia as juansoco, are so employed. Two species of 
Lacmellea—L. cf. peruviana (Plowman, Schultes et Tovar 6653) 
and L. lactescens (Plowman, Schultes et Tovar 6889): the former 
is used primarily when Indians are working in the forests and 
their supply of coca runs out: branches of the latter are tied up 
over the fire to dry and smoke, and the leaves are then powdered 
like coca and mixed with Cecropia ashes. 
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