The coca family. Four genera and approx. 240 species, the best known being Erythroxylum coca, one of the sources of the drug cocaine. The other "coca plant" is Erythroxylum novogranatense. It is interesting to remember that the original Coca-Cola was exactly what the name suggested: coca extract combined with those of the caffeinated kola nut. The use of active cocaine ended in 1903, after which the soda switched to "cocaine-free coca leaf extract". Another species, Erythroxylum vaccinifolium, is the source of catuaba, a substance used as a stimulant and aphrodisiac by the Indians of the Amazon.
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