La Coca

Coca is any of the four cultivated plants in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. The plant is grown as a cash crop in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru, even in areas where its cultivation is unlawful.[2] It also plays a role in many traditional Andean cultures as well as the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (see Traditional uses). Coca is known throughout the world for its psychoactive alkaloid, cocaine. The alkaloid content of coca leaves is low, between 0.25% and 0.77%.[3] This means that chewing the leaves or drinking coca tea does not produce the intense high (euphoria, megalomania, depression) people experience with cocaine. Coca leaf extract has been used in Coca-Cola products since 1885, with cocaine being completely eliminated from the products in or around 1929.[4][5] Extraction of cocaine from coca requires several solvents and a chemical process known as an acid/base extraction, which can fairly easily extract the alkaloids from the plant.

Contents

1 Description

2 Species and evolution

2.1 Herbicide resistant varieties

3 Cultivation

4 Pharmacological aspects

5 History

6 Traditional uses

6.1 Medicine

6.2 Nutrition

6.3 Religion

6.4 Traditional preparation

6.4.1 Chew

6.4.2 Tea

7 Commercial and industrial uses

7.1 New markets

8 Literary references

9 International prohibition of coca leaf

10 Legal status by country

11 See also

12 References

13 External links

Description

The coca plant resembles a blackthorn bush, and grows to a height of 2–3 m (7–10 ft). The branches are straight, and the leaves are thin, opaque, oval, and taper at the extremities. A marked characteristic of the leaf is an areolated portion bounded by two longitudinal curved lines, one line on each side of the midrib, and more conspicuous on the under face of the leaf.

The flowers are small, and disposed in clusters on short stalks; the corolla is composed of five yellowish-white petals, the anthers are heart-shaped, and the pistil consists of three carpels united to form a three-chambered ovary. The flowers mature into red berries.

The leaves are sometimes eaten by the larvae of the moth Eloria noyesi.

Species and evolution

There are two species of cultivated coca, each with two varieties:

Erythroxylum coca

Erythroxylum coca var. coca (Bolivian or Huánuco Coca) - well adapted to the eastern Andes of Peru and Bolivia, an area of humid, tropical, montane forest.

Erythroxylum coca var. ipadu (Amazonian Coca) - cultivated in the lowland Amazon Basin in Peru and Colombia.

Erythroxylum novogranatense

Erythroxylum novogranatense var. novogranatense (Colombian Coca) - a highland variety that is utilized in lowland areas. It is cultivated in drier regions found in Colombia. However, E. novogranatense is very adaptable to varying ecological conditions. The leaves have parallel lines on either side of the central vein.

Erythroxylum novogranatense var. truxillense (Trujillo Coca) - grown primarily in Peru and Colombia. the leaves of E. novogranatense var. truxillense does not have parallel lines on either side of the central vein like all other varieties.

All four of the cultivated cocas were domesticated in pre-Columbian times and are more closely related to each other than to any other species.[2]

There are two main theories relating to the evolution of the cultivated cocas. The first (put forth by Plowman[6] and Bohm [7]) suggests that Erythroxylum coca var. coca is

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