Erythroxylum coca

Native to western South America, this evergreen shrub grows in humid tropical regions and has long been cultivated for its leaves. Smooth-edged leaves grow alternately along the twigs, and small, five-petaled flowers appear beside them. Fleshy fruits contain a single seed. Indigenous communities have traditionally chewed the leaves and prepared them as tea or other stimulants. The leaves contain cocaine and are a source of the extracted drug. The species includes Andean and Amazonian cultivated varieties. Photographed in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia.