Bii n is cci i oe x 
eee ee Oe IS ent ee rr R 
ERYTHROXYLON COCA: OR COCA-SHRUB OF PERU. 
ERYTHROXYLON COCA: OR CO- 
CA-SHRUB OF PERU. 
: Tas. XXI. 
At p. 161 of this Journal, I have given, 
from the Travels of Dr. Póppig in South 
America, a highly interesting account of 
the uses and property, mode of cultivation, 
and commercial value of the Coca Shrub, 
and it was matter of regret that it was not 
in my power to accompany that history 
with a figure of so celebrated a plant. The 
fact was, I did not possess it in my Her- 
barium. But shortly after, on turning over 
the specimens in Mr. Mathews’s private 
Herbarium, which happened at the time to 
be in my possession, I there found a 
beautiful one from the Quebrada of Chin- 
chao ; the ticket accompanying it bearing 
the number 2023. Yet strange to say, this 
species of Erythrozylon does not appear 
to have been yet distributed to Mr. Ma- A 
thews's subscribers ; perhaps because he 
looked upon it as too common. I have 
indeed often had occasion to regret, when 
Botanists make collections in remote and 
little frequented countries, how often they 
neglect to procure specimens of the more 
useful plants, whether in the arts, or in 
medicine, or in commerce: and can only 
account for this upon the ground, that 
such plants being familiar to the inhabit- 
ants, they are passed by as of little value 
to the Botanist. We have only to look at 
the pages of any work on Materia Medica, 
where doubts or ignorance are expressed 
in regard to a great number of vegetables 
yielding some of our most valuable drugs, 
to be satisfied of the correctness of this 
remark, 
In regard to the plant in question, in- 
deed, it is not unknown to Botanists and 
travellers, though no doubt imperfectly to 
many who have written on it. Clusius and 
Hernandez speak of it. Lamarck first 
clearly defined it, having described it from 
specimens brought from Peru, by Joseph 
de Jussieu. Cavanilles figured and de- 
scribed it from the same specimens: and 
we have also a representation of it in the 
inedited plates of Ruiz and Pavon. The 
two latter works, however, containing the 
OK 
25 
figures, are in the hands of few: so that 
the one here given and made from Mr. Ma- 
thews's specimen may not be unacceptable 
to our friends, and it now only remains to 
offer a brief description. 
Erythroxylon Coca ; foliis ovalibus acutis 
4 : Pa ghe ptus 
t er. 
ter costam) lineis duabus notatis, pedun- 
culis lateralibus fasciculatis longitudine 
florum, fructibus ovatis acutis, ramis cre- 
bre tuberculatis. (Tas, XXL) 
Erythroxylon Coca. Lam. Dict. v. 2. p- 
593. Cav. Diss. p. 402. t. 229. De 
Cand. Prodr. Ruiz, et Pav. Fl. Per. 
ined. t. 398. Mathews, Herb. Peruv. n. 
2023 
Has. Peru. In the environs of Cuchero 
and on the stony summit of Cerro de San 
Christobal, Dr. Péppig thinks it may be 
indigenous. Cultivated extensively in the 
ndes, and at an elevation of from 2,000 
to 9,000 feet above the level of the sea. 
Descr. A Shrub, according to Mr. 
Mathews’ notes, from four to eight feet 
high, erect, much branched; the branches 
alternate, erecto-patent, clothed with a pale 
brownish dark, much wrinkled and furrow- 
ed, the elevated lines between these fur- 
rows beset with numerous whitish tuber- 
cles, which when seen under a lens, appear 
to be formed of two curved lines, set face 
to face, so that they look like very large 
stomata of the epidermis. Leaves alter- 
nate, chiefly confined to the upper parts of 
the branches, one and a half to two inches 
long, membranaceous, flat, opaque, acute 
at both extremities, the apex almost mu- 
cronate, quite entire, dark green above, 
pale beneath: costa or midrib slender, 
sending forth at nearly right angles slender 
nerves, which anastomose over the surface 
of the leaf, but are connected with two 
principal nerves, which form a slightly 
curved line from the base to the apex, 
between the costa and margin, but nearest 
to the former: these are more conspicuous 
on the under surface than the upper, and 
are rendered more evident from the cir- 
