Buy organic bulk herbs, spices, oils and teas

Annies Aromatherapy	Chart of Herbs	Herbal Remedies	Methods	Health Conditions	Herb Store

Coca, cocaine Erythroxylum coca

Common Names

Coca, cocaine , cocaine

Botanical Name

Erythroxylum coca

Family

ERYTHROXYLACEAE Coca Family

Coca, cocaine Medicinal Properties & Benefits
Common Uses:
Properties:	Psychedelic*
Parts Used:	leaves
Constituents:	cocaine and other alkaloids

Side Effects:

How to Use: Coca, cocaine

Preparation Methods :

Buy Bulk Coca, cocaine Herbs, Extracts, Capsules and Oils

Coca, cocaine Medicinal Uses & Benefits

Plant Description

History and Traditions

Coca is traditionally cultivated in the lower altitudes of the eastern slopes of the Andes. Since time immemorial, its leaves have been used as a stimulant by the indigenous people of Peru, Bolivia, and northern Argentina; it also has religious and symbolic significance. Since the 1980s, the cultivation of coca has become controversial because it is used for the manufacture of the drug cocaine, which is illegal in most countries.
Good samples of the dried leaves are uncurled, are of a deep green on the upper, and a grey-green on the lower surface, and have a strong tea-like odor; when chewed they produce a faint numbness in the mouth, and have a pleasant, pungent taste. Bad specimens have a camphoraceous smell and a brownish colour, and lack the pungent taste.
The Coca-Cola Company buys 115 tons of coca leaf from Peru and 105 tons from Bolivia per year, which it uses as an ingredient in its Coca-Cola formula (famously a trade secret). The cocaine itself does not end up in the drink nowadays, however, and is generally sold to the pharmaceutical industry where it is used for various surgical procedures.
Coca eradication is a strategy strongly promoted by the U.S. government as part of its "War on Drugs" to eliminate the cultivation of coca, a plant whose leaves are used in the manufacture of cocaine. This strategy is being pursued in the coca-growing regions of Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia, where it is highly controversial because of its environmental and its socioeconomic impact. wikipedia.org

Folklore, Myths and Legends

Indigenous Peoples of the Americas

Coca was also a vital part of the religious cosmology of the Andean tribes in the pre-Inca period as well as throughout the Inca Empire (Tahuantinsuyu). Coca was historically employed as an offering to the Sun, or to produce smoke at the great sacrifices; and the priests, it was believed, must chew it during the performance of religious ceremonies, otherwise the gods would not be propitiated. Coca is still held in veneration among the indigenous and mestizo peoples of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and northern Argentina and Chile.

Herbs for libido Diabetes Herbs Natural Health Prostate Health Herbs Children's Remedies Herbal Remedies For Arthritis Smoking Herbs Herbal Remedies For Comfrey Bitter Melon Kudzu Alcoholism Spider Veins lower back pain relief herbs Anagelsic Herbs eyes herbs Chamomile Cayenne Pepper cough remedies herbs to lower cholesterol Ginseng Gotu Kola Horny goat weed Arthritis

Medicinal Healing Herbs : Properties and Uses

Herbs Alphabetical by Common Name

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
List Herbs by Botanical Name