158 



EBYTHEOXYLACEAE. 



EBYTHROXYLON. Coca. 

 (Family Erythroxylaceae). 



Shrubs: deciduous. Twigs 

 slender, somewhat zig-zag, round: 

 pith moderate, round, continuous, 

 pale. Buds solitary, sessile, glo- 

 bose with a pair of stipular-scales, 

 or those that are to develop flow- 

 ers quickly compound and with 

 numerous chaffy scales, the end- 

 bud lacking. Leaf-scars alternate, 

 2-ranked, small, crescent-shaped, 

 low: bundle-trace 1, indistinct: 

 stipule-scars very narrow, elon- 

 gated. 



Erythroxylon, which is of no 

 decorative value, is included here 

 only because it is the source of 

 the important anaesthetic alka- 

 loid cocaine. The leaves of the 

 plant are imported from Bolivia 

 and Peru chiefly, though it is cul- 

 tivated also in the East Indies. 



As with the opium poppy, it produces a number of distinct 



active principles. 



Glabrous: twigs brown. 



E. Coca. 



