VIL. 
Several plants are medicinally involved in treating problems 
thought to be concerned with use or overuse of coca. The 
Indians living near Mita on the Rio Vaupés of Colombia 
powder the bark of Tachigalia cavipes (Garcia-Barriga, Schultes 
et Blohm 16061) and employ it to “dry up” cancres of the 
mucous membrane of the mouth, caused presumably by exces- 
sive use of coca. 
The Barasanas of the Rio Piraparana of Colombia are heavily 
habituated to coca. Aged men of this tribe frequently suffer from 
stomach or intestinal bleeding, a condition which, although it 
might have sundry causes, they attribute to long and excessive 
use of coca powder. In an effort to alleviate this trouble, they 
recommend a hot tea of the leaves and bark of Pagamea 
macrophylla (Schultes et Cabrera 17581). The leaves of P. 
macrophylla are also pulverized and aspirated by the medicine 
men during ceremonies of divination. 
Coca leaves enter into medicinal preparations with other 
plants in several localities. They are boiled with the leaves of 
Vochysia laxiflora (Schultes et Cabrera 16676) to prepare a tea 
when urination is painful or difficult. 
Amongst the Witotos of the Rio Karaparana of Colombia, 
the dried and powdered root of Chelonanthus alatus (Schultes 
3805) is added in very small amounts to the coca-ash powder “to 
give it a bitter taste.” It appears that this practice is followed 
infrequently and may be associated with certain ceremonies, 
when a special kind of coca is desired. A tea of the root is also 
employed as a wash for infected wounds. This gentianaceous 
species, known in Witoto as ho-ko-s0-g6-no, has, like so many 
in the family, bitter principles. 
Vill. 
There is obviously much that remains to be investigated along 
interdisciplinary lines on the use and significance of coca in the 
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