Witnessed by: Western
Coca (Erythroxylum coca), of the Erythroxylaceae family. Evergreen shrub with thin, oval, bright green leaves marked by two curved lines either side of the midrib; native range: eastern slopes of the Andes in Peru and Bolivia; cultivated in the montane tropics of South America. Globally recognized as coca, cuca in English, coca in Spanish, and kuka in Quechua. The part used is leaf. Dried leaves of a dull green, faintly tea-like in smell, the taste bitter and slightly aromatic, leaving the tongue and lips numb when chewed.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
COCA
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- coca
- Scientific name
- Erythroxylum coca Lam.
- Family
- Erythroxylaceae
Form
- Part used
- leaf
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Western
- bitter · aromatic
Temperature
- Western
- warm
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Western
- nerves · nervous system · heart · stomach
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Western
- cerebral and nervous stimulant, sustaining strength and postponing the sense of fatigue and hunger; locally anaesthetic and numbing to mucous surfaces; stomachic and, in fuller dose, a cardiac and respiratory excitant
Cautions
- Contraindications
- heart disease, hypertension, insomnia, agitated and excitable states, pregnancy
- Toxicity
- habit-forming; the leaf's alkaloid is cocaine, and continued or heavy use brings sleeplessness, wasting, cardiac disturbance and dependence. The plant and its alkaloid are controlled narcotics under the international drug conventions and under most national law, and possession, trade and use are restricted accordingly.
- Sourcing status
- legally-restricted
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