BOTANICAL MUSEUM LEAFLETS 



HARVARD UNIVERSITY 



Cambridge, Massachusetts Fall 1983 Vol. 29, No. 4 



MORPHOLOGICAL STUDIES OF 

 ARCHEOLOGICAL AND RECENT 



COCA LEAVES 

 {ERYTHROXYLUM SPP.) 



Phillip M. Rury' and Timothy Plowman^ 



INTRODUCTION 



Coca leaves, derived from two closely related species of the 

 genus Erythroxylum P. Br., are widely used in South America as 

 a masticatory and in household medicine. The history of coca 

 chewing dates back several thousand years and there is evidence 

 that coca is one of the oldest domesticated plants in the New 

 World (Plowman, in press). Coca continues to be an important 

 cuhural feature among indigenous peoples throughout the 

 Andes and in the western Amazon. In recent years, the 

 cultivation of coca has greatly increased in order to supply the 

 great demand for the alkaloid cocaine, which has become an 

 extremely popular recreational drug in Western societies. 



In spite of its great antiquity, the history and botany of coca 

 have not been studied in depth until the past decade. Ahhough 



'Research Associate, Botanical Museum of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massa- 

 chusetts 02138. 



2 Associate Curator, Botany Department, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, 

 Illinois 60605, and Research Associate, Botanical Museum of Harvard University, 

 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138. 



Botanical Museum Leanets (ISSN 0006-8098). Published quarterly by the Botanical Museum. 

 Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138. Subscription: $40.00 a year, net, postpaid. 

 Orders should be directed to Secretary of Publications at the above address. Second-Class Postage 

 Paid at Boston, Massachusetts. 



Published May 1984. 



297 



