古柯 gu ke

Erythroxylum coca Lamarck var. novogranatense D. Morris, Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1889: 5. 1889.

Shrubs or small trees. Stipules triangular, 1.5-3 mm, margin often entire. Leaves alternate, simple; petiole 4-7 mm; leaf blade obovate to narrowly elliptic, 1.2-4.7 × 1-1.8 cm, midvein adaxially impressed, secondary veins anastomosing into an obvious intramarginal vein in each side of midvein, base attenuate, margin entire, apex obtuse to retuse and with a mucro. Flowers solitary or fascicled, small. Pedicel to 4 mm at anthesis. Sepals 5, ca. 1.5 mm, basally connate. Petals 5, whitish yellow, ovate-oblong, 3-3.5 mm, with 2 ligules on inner face at base. Stamens 10; filament basally connate into a tube, 2-4 mm. Ovary globose to oblong, 1-3.5 mm, 3-locular, with 1 ovule in only fertile locule; styles distinct, 1-3 mm, persistent. Mature drupe red, oblong, 7-8 × ca. 3 mm, with 5 longitudinal ribs, 1-seeded. Fl. most of year but mostly Feb-Mar, fr. May-Dec.

Cultivated. Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, Yunnan [native to South America].

This species is used medicinally and as a narcotic.