330 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Ocr., 1897. 
Economic Botany. 
No. 2. 
COCA (HRYTHROXYLOWN COCA, Lam.) 
By J. F. BAILEY. 
Derivation —From _ erythros, the Greek for red, and «ylon, wood ; some 
of the species having red wood. Coca is the native name of the plant, and 
means the “tree” or “plant” par ewcellence. 
Description.—The plant belongs to the Flax family (Linex), and forms a 
small bushy much-branched shrub 4 to 6 feet or more high, with a purplish- 
brown wrinkled bark. Leaves closely placed, alternate, shortly stalked, 1 to 2 
inches long, lanceolate or oval, rather attenuated towards the base, entire, 
rather thin, bright-green above, paler beneath, glabrous, midrib prominent, and 
on each side a nerve running from the base to the apex, lateral veins numerous. 
Stalk of leaf about 4-inch long, stipules small, closely pressed to the stem, 
triangular, acute. Flowers small, white, on slender stalks, several together in 
the axils of the leaves. Fruit a small indehiscent red drupe, about 3-inch 
long, smooth, but furrowed when dry. (Vide Plate.) 
Cultivation.—The Coca is cultivated very largely in the Andes of Peru, 
Bolivia, Columbia (especially in the very moist mild climate met with at from 
2,000 to 5,000 feet above sea-level), parts of Brazil, and many other countries 
of South America. The plants are propagated from seed, which should be 
sown, as soon after gathering as possible (as, like many other seeds in this 
climate, they do not keep well), in a plantation set apart for the purpose. 
‘When the seedlings are about 6 inches high they may be transplanted to their 
permanent situations. The remarks re shading given last month about 
papaws apply equally to these plants. In South America the plantations (called 
“cocals”) are generally formed on the steep warm declivities of the mountains, 
the original forest growth being cleared for the purpose. The plants when 
young will not stand frost or cold winds; therefore should not be planted 
where they are subject to such. A plant of Coca may be seen growing on 
the side of the hill at the rear of the coffee plantation in the Brisbane Botanic 
Gardens, where it has been growing for the past thirteen years. 
Uses.—The parts used are the leaves; and the extraordinary virtues 
ascribed to them by the Indians of South America, who have used them from 
the earliest periods, have excited the attention of numerous travellers, &c. 
Poeppig states that miners chewing it every three hours, with a handful of 
maize, will perform very severe work for twelve hours, and that an Indian 
runner will carry a load of 1 ewt. for ten leagues over rough roads in eight 
hours by its aid alone. Stevenson, who for twenty years resided in Peru, and 
was secretary to the Governor of Quito (capital of Ecuador), states that ‘the 
natives in the mines, and travelling, derive such sustenance from chewing the 
leaves that they frequently take no food for four or five days, though constantly 
working, and that they had told him that with a good supply of Coca they felt 
neither hunger, thirst, nor fatigue, and that without inconvenience or injury 
they could remain eight or ten days without sleep.” Most writers, however, 
agree that when Coca is taken in excess it produces highly injurious effects, like 
the immoderate consumption of other stimulants or narcotics, such as fermented 
liquors, tobacco, opium, &c. 
