CRUDE DRUGS. 



605 



1 cm. long, yellowish-brown, very pubescent; stamens numerous, 

 more or less united into a tube, exserted ; filaments reddish-brown. 



Inner Structure. — See Figs. 261, 286. 



Constituents. — Several alkaloids, including cocaine, cinna- 

 myl-cocaine, truxilline and ecgonine. Of these cocaine is the 



Fig. 260, Flowering branch of Erythroxylon Coca showing the parallel lines on either 

 side of the midrib, which are not true veins, but due to an extra development of hypodermal 

 cells in this region. 



most important, the Bolivian leaves containing the greatest 

 amount, or 0.5 to i per cent.; the other alkaloids preponderate 

 in the Peruvian leaves, which usually do not contain more than 

 one-half or two-thirds as much cocaine as the Bolivian leaves; 

 the Java leaves also contain benzoyl-pseudotropine ; in addition. 



