Coke

ERYTHROXYLON COCA

Origin NORTH OF SOUTH AMERICA

Active ingredient COCAINE

RITUAL, MEDICINAL, RECREATIONAL USE

Coca has been used for more than 4,500 years in Andean civilizations and among the Tukano peoples of the Amazon. Pre-Columbian societies used it in rituals and to fight hunger and fatigue, considering it a gift from the Sun God, Inti. The Spanish spread its use to increase the performance of enslaved indigenous people. A legend about its origin tells that coca grew on the grave of an indigenous woman who was split open and accused of adultery.

Other plants

References:

Ferreira, Pedro Eugênio M., and Rodrigo K. Martini. "Cocaine: legends, history and abuse." Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry 23 (June 2001): 96–99. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1516-44462001000200008.