THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [May i, 1889. 
cocaine in leaves gathered at different seasons in the 
year. This may account for the different yield of 
plants grown at pea-level in Jamaica and exactly 
similar plants grown at sea-level at St. Lucia. In the 
one case the yield is -76 per cent, of cocaine, in the 
other it is only -55 per cent. The general conclusion 
■would point to the variety novo-granatense as being a 
lowland plant capable of growing in hotter conditions 
than those suitable to the type. Leaves taken from 
plants grown at Kew yielded '44 per cent, of cocaine, 
of which -10 per cent, was crystallizable. Of leaves 
grown in India one sample forwarded to Kew by Mr. 
Sackville Oresswell, grown at Darjeeling at an elevation 
of 900 feet, gave the highest percentage of total cooaine, 
but a large proportion was uncrystallizable. The other 
leaves forwarded by the Secretary of the Agricultural 
and Horticultural Society of India have been already 
very fully discussed by Dr. Warden, M. D., F. R. 
0. S. in a "Note on Erythroxylon Coca Grown in 
India," published in vol. viii., part III., new series of 
the Journal of the above Society. An interesting 
point connected with these leaves is brought out by 
Mr. G. Peppe, of Ranchi, Bengal. One set of leaves, 
dried in the sun, yielded "53 per cent, of cocaine, of 
which '23 per cent, was uncrystallizable. The same 
leaves " dried in the shade on cloth for twenty hours, 
then rolled by hand like tea, then fermented two and 
a half hours," dried over a charcoal fire and put in 
a closed tin box," yielded '58 per cent, of cocaine, 
of which only '17 per cent, was uncrystallizable. These 
latter leaves were obtained from plants imported from 
Paris ; the other Indian leaves were from plants in- 
troduced by the Agricultural and Horticultural Society 
of India. In general character they are all very much 
alike, approaching the Bolivian form perhaps in shape 
and colour, but evidently possessing the characteristics 
of Truxillo coca in the high percentage of uncrys- 
tallizable cocaine contained in them. 
The above results confirm the opinion already 
formed that there are several varieties of Erythroxylon 
Coca existing in South America, some of which have 
been now introduced into the Old "World. These 
varieties have no doubt their own range of elevation 
at which they may be successfully cultivated, as well 
as characteristics more or less marked in the yield 
of crystallizable cocaine. 
The typical plant appears to be the best plant to 
cultivate at higher elevations, and if the object is 
to obtain a large yield of crystallizable cocaine. The 
variety novo-granatense thrives at sea level in the 
tropics, and yields nearly, if not quite, as high a 
percentage total cocaine, but a large proportion of it 
under present chemical methods is uncrystallizable. 
The latter plant, judging from cultivated specimens 
in this country, appears to yield a large crop of 
leaves than the type, but fruits somewhat sparingly. 
As regards yield of crystallizable cocaine we have 
apparently amongst coca plants very much similar 
conditions as amongst cinchona plants. In the latter, 
Cinchona succirubra yields a large proportion of total 
alKaloids like the variety novo-granatense, hut only 
a small amount of crystallizable quinine. On the other 
hand, Cinchona calisaya (like the typical coca plant) 
yields a smaller total of mixed alkaloids, but a larger 
yield of crystallizable quinine. 
Otheb Species op Erythroxylon. 
There are numerous other species of erythroxylon 
distributed throughout the iuter-tropical regions of 
both hemispheres. The headquarters of the genus is 
in tropical America, whence more than one hundred 
species have been already described. 
The important properties which exist in the leaves 
of Erythroxylon Coca have naturally drawn attention 
to other species, in the hope that their leaves might 
contain the same or similar principles. It is well 
known that the wood of numerous species is hard 
and yields a red dye. The young shoots of Erythroxylon 
areolatum, a native of Jamaica and of the northern 
parts of South America, are said to be a mild stimulant; 
the bark is a tonic, and the juice of the leaves 
is used externally against herpetic affections. 
Erythroxylon monogynum (Sethia indiea), a native 
of the East Indies, known under the Madras native 
name of Gadara, possesses a timber that is slightly 
fragrant, and Ondaatje records that a creasotic oil 
has been prepared from it. The leaves of this plant 
were used by the natives of India to mix with their 
food during the last famine.* 
During the course of the present inquiry an effort 
has been made to procure as many samples as possible 
of leaves of various species of erythroxylon in order 
that they may be analysed by the same method as 
that adopted for the coca leaves. It might be natu- 
rally supposed that the two species already mentioned 
(E. areolatum and E. monogynum) which have gained 
a local reputation for medicinal properties would con- 
tain the larger amount of the characteristic coca 
alkaloids. The leaves of Erythroxylon areolatum, grown 
in Jamaica, received from Mr. Fawcett, and dried in 
the shade, contained 033 per cent, of cocaine, while 
similar leaves dried in the sun yielded "023 per cent, 
of cocaine. Leaves of Erythroxylon coca from the 
same island have already been shown to contain •70 
per cent, of cocaine — so the quantity yielded by the 
indigenous plant is therefore only about one twenty- 
fourth part of that yielded by E. Coca. 
No leaves of E. monogynum were obtainable for Mr. 
Howard, but reference may be made to an analysis 
undertaken by Dr. Warden of leaves obtained in Cal- 
cutta which " yielded -04 per cent, of a principle which, 
however, did not possess the physiological propert es 
of cocaine, "f 
At the Botanical Gardens at Java, Mr. Eykinan 
formerly Professor of Chemistry and Pharmacology 
at the University of Tokio, carried on researches into 
the properties of local species of erythroxylon, which 
are fully borne out by the analysis of Mr. Howard 
with similar leaves sent to Kew by Dr. Treub. Mr. 
Eykman analysed the leaves of Erythroxylon montanu m, 
E, laurifoliwn, and E. retusum. The amount of 
alkaloids found in them was in no case higher than 
one-tenth of that contained in the leaves of E. Coca. 
The bark of E. montanum and E. retusum contained 
an inappreciable amount of alkaloids, while the fruit 
contained only a trace. J The Java leaves analysed by 
Mr. Howard contained the following percentages of 
alkaloids ; E. montanum "03 per cent.§ The highest 
percentage reached by leaves of E. Coca received from 
Java (already noted) was -43 percent. Hence, accord- 
ing to these figures, the indigenous species yielded 
only one-ninth to one-fourteenth of the alkaloids 
yielded by E. Coca. Leaves of E. macrophyllum received 
from Mr. Jenman, Botanic Gardens, British Gui ma, 
contained not a trace of alkaloids, while the leaves 
of E. ovation yielded '02 per cent, of alkaloids. The 
latter species is found in many of the West India 
Islands as well as in South America. It is known at 
Dominica as Bois vinette. A specimen in the Kew 
Herbarium, collected by Lechler in Peru in 1854 aud 
named by Grisebach E. ovatum, was marked " cult* 
sub-nomine coca, San Govan. " From the character 
of this specimen there could be little doubt that it 
was only a form of E. Coca, and the amount of alkaloids 
contained in the leaves would have fully justified its 
being accepted as the true thing. 
To summarise the results obtained from an examina- 
tion of the leaves of local species of erythroxylon, it 
is pretty clear that no species yet examined yields 
alkaloids at all comparable in quantity to those found 
in E. Coca. The bark of these species appears to con- 
tain even less than the leaves, while the fruit and seed 
contain only a trace of alkaloids. The following table 
will show the results as far as they are now obtainable. 
The yield of E. Coca is placed at the head of 
* Official papers of the Government of Madras 
Rev. Depart., 29th Sept., 1885. No. 1105. 
f " Note on Erythroxylon Coca Grown in India, " by 
O. J. H. Warden, M. D , F. R. O. S., reprinted from 
Journal Agri.-Hort. Soc. India, vol. viii., Part II. 
f ' Annates du Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg,' Dr. 
M. Treub, Directeur, vol. vii., Part II.J pp. 224-229. 
Leide, E. J. Brill. 1888. 
§ Mr. Howard states that these results are not quite 
free from doubt. They are however, very near those 
obtained by Mr. Eykman, and give almost identical 
proportions as compared with E. Coca. 
