Erythroxylaceae

Plant Characteristics

Cultivation

Scientific Names

Read about Erythroxylaceae in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Erythroxylaceae (from the genus Erythroxylon, the name signifying red wood; the wood of some species being red). Coca Family. Fig. 30. Shrubs and small trees: leaves alternate: flowers bisexual, regular, inconspicuous; sepals 5, persistent, imbricated or valvate; petals 5, convolute or imbricated, with appendages on the inner face, or with projecting callosities; stamens 10, in 2 whorls, more or less connate into a tube, and externally glandular; ovary 3-4-celled, usually but 1 cell developing in fruit; 1-2 ovules in each cell; styles 3-4: fruit drupaceous, 1-2-seeded. Two genera and about 90 species are known; all tropical, and reaching their greatest development in tropical South America, but extending northward to Mexico and southward in the Old World to Natal. The family is closely related to the Linaceae with which it was formerly united, but differs in the more prominent stamen-tube, the appendages on the petals, and the drupaceous non-capsular fruit. The only important economic plant is the coca plant (Erythroxylon Coca), a shrub famous as the source of cocaine. Its origin is unknown, but it was early used by the Peruvians as a stimulant. Coca is now grown to a limited extent in southern Florida and southern California, as well as in most tropical countries. CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

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