coca was formerly considered to be derived from the single 

 species Erythroyxlum Coca Lam., modern studies have demon- 

 strated that two distinct species are involved: E. Coca Lam. and 

 E. novogranatense (Morris) Hieron. In addition, each of the two 

 species has a distinct variety, so that four cultivated cocas are 

 now recognized: E. Coca Lam. var. Coca, E. Coca var. Ipadu 

 Plowman, E. novogranatense (Morris) Hieron. var. novo- 

 granatense and E. novogranatense var. truxillense (Rusby) 

 Plowman (Plowman 1979a, b, 1981, 1982; Rury, 1981, 1982; 

 Bohm, Ganders & Plowman, 1982; Plowman & Rivier, 1983; 

 Plowman, in press). The present distribution of the four varieties 

 is shown in Plate 32. 



All four of the cultivated cocas were domesticated in pre- 

 Columbian times and are still employed by native coca chewers 

 in South America. Each was known by a different name before 

 the Spanish popularized the now widespread term "coca". All of 

 the cultivated cocas contain cocaine, although they are now 

 known to differ appreciably in their content of minor alkaloids 

 and other chemical constituents (Bohm, Ganders & Plowman, 

 1982; Plowman & Rivier, 1983). Additional important differ- 

 ences among the four varieties, which hitherto had been 

 overlooked, are found in their leaf and stem anatomy, ecology, 

 geographical distribution, breeding relationships, as well as in 

 their cultivation and preparation for chewing. These differences 

 have arisen through intensive human selection over a long 

 period of time for desirable traits and for adaptations which 

 permit coca cultivation in a wide variety of habitats. 



Erythroyxlum Coca var. Coca. "Hu^nuco" or "Bolivian" 

 coca, is thought to be the most nearly ancestral type and today is 

 still found in a wild or feral state throughout the moist tropical 

 forests Cmontana'') of the eastern Andes of Peru and Bolivia. It 

 is also extensively cultivated today as the most important 

 commercial source of coca leaves and cocaine. 



Amazonian coca, E. Coca var. fpaciu. is cultivated in the 

 lowland Amazon by a number of tribes of shifting agricuhural- 

 ists. It apparently has been derived relatively recently as a 

 lowland cultigen from E. Coca var. Coca of the Andean 

 foothills, and does not persist as a feral plant in the forests of 



298 



