ON  THE  LEAVES  OF  THE  COCA. 
33 
ON  THE  LEAVES  OF  THE  COCA  OF  PERU  (ERYTHROXYLON 
COCA,  LAMARCK. 
By  Dr.  H.  A.  Weddell.* 
Among  the  numerous  vegetable  riches  of  Yungas,f  there  was 
none  which  interested  me  more  than  the  Coca,  in  consequence  of 
the  various  and  sometimes  contradictory  opinions  put  forth  re- 
garding it.  I  trust  that  a  resume  of  my  studies  on  this  remark- 
able plant  will  be  perused  with  interest. 
My  readers  are  aware  that  Coca  is  the  dried  leaf  of  a  shrub 
to  which  botanists  have  given  the  name  Erythroxylon  Coca  ;J  it 
*  Extracted  from  Dr.  Weddell's  Voyage  dans  le  nord  de  la  Bolivie.  Paris. 
1853,  8vo,  ch.  xxix. 
t  A  province  in  the  north-east  of  Bolivia. — Ed.  Ph.  J. 
$  Clusius  (1605)  appears  to  be,  after  Monardes  (1569),  the  first  botanist 
who  has  treated  on  Coca,  which  was,  however,  known  in  Europe  at  an  ear- 
lier period  through  the  accounts  given  by  the  historians  of  the  conquest  of 
Peru,  but  the  first  who  received  in  Europe  authentic  specimens  of  the  plant, 
was  Joseph  de  Jussieu,  one  of  the  travelling  companions  of  La  Condamine. 
The  life  of  the  adventurous  botanist  was,  however,  nearly  sacrificed  while 
crossing  the  Cordillera  of  Coroico  in  1749,  in  order  to  study  this  famous 
plant.  "  II  me  fallut,"  he  says,  li  passer  lamontagne  neigee  et  marcher  plus 
de  4  a  5  lieures  dans  la  neige,la  descendre  par  des  chemins  tallies  en  forme 
d'escalier,  au  bord  de  precipices  affrenx,  et  avoir  a  chaque  instant,  et  pen- 
dant 7  a  8  lieues,  la  mort  devant  les  yeux.  Ma  mule  s'abattit  deux  ou  trois 
fois  sous  moi ;  je  fus  oblige  de  la  laisser  estropiee  et  hors  d  etat  de  me  pou- 
voir  servir  davantage.  La  violence  des  rayons  du  soleil  refiechis  par  la  niege 
me  causa  une  des  plus  douloureuses  ophthalmies  que  j'aie  eprouvees  de  ma 
vie  et  ce  qui  me  chagrinait  le  plus  etait  la  crainte  de  devenir  aveugle,  car  je 
ne  voyais  rien.  Mais  une  abondante  fluxion  de  larmes,  causee  par  la  meme 
irritation,  au  bout  de  vingt-quatre  heures  d'un  tourment  continuel,  me  rendit 
la  vue  et  la  serenite,  et  fut  ma  guerison.  La  beauie  et  l'abondance  des  dif- 
ferentes  plantes  que  produit  cette  region  me  consolerent  et  me  dedommage- 
rent  des  travaux  passes."    .    .  . 
The  specimens  sent  by  Joseph  de  Jussieu  to  his  brother,  in  1750,  were 
subsequently  examined  by  Antoine-Laurent  de  Jussieu,  who  referred  the 
plant  to  the  genus  Erythroxylon,  and  finally  served  as  types  for  the  descrip'- 
tion  which  Lamarck  gave  of  it  under  the  name  Erythroxylon  Coca  in  his 
Encyclopedic. 
The  generic  name  refers  to  the  color  of  the  wood  of  several  pf  the  plants 
composing  the  group;  as  to  the  word  Cjca,  of  which,  so  far  as  I  know,  no 
one  has  sought  to  give  the  etymology,  it  probably  comes  from  the  Avmara, 
3 
