Coca Plant
Coca plant (Erythroxylon coca, Erythroxylaceae)
English: coca plant, coca
French: coca
The coca plant does not grow on Ibiza. But as Ibiza is known as an important place for cocaine dealing, it must be mentioned that the coca plant must not be mistaken for cocaine like it is unfortunately done fairly often.
The coca leaf contains vitamins and minerals that, of course, are absent in cocaine, so it is something like a vegetable. In the Andes it has been chewed for probably at least five millennia together with lime or plant ashes. It is a stimulant like coffee. Moreover it has a great variety of medicinal uses. Since coca leaves-due to their illegality-are hardly available in Europe, this is not the place to discuss their properties in detail.
Literature (in German):
Janzing, Gereon: Psychoaktive Drogen weltweit. Löhrbach 2000.
Janzing, Gereon: Den Indianern ihr Kaffee: Koka. Kokablätter, Kokain, Coca-Cola. Löhrbach 2003.
