Alkaloid Content in Two Erythroxylum Taxa During Juvenile Growth and Development

Abstract

ABSTRACT Erythroxylum coca var. coca Lam. And Erythroxylum novogranatense var. novogranatense (Morris) Hieron (E.n. var. novogranatense) were grown in a controlled environment for 52 weeks to monitor the content of hygrine, tropinone, tropacocaine, methyl ecgonine, cocaine and cis- and trans-cinnamoylcocaine in seeds, plant parts, and organs during juvenile growth. Embryos and endosperms of var. coca contained cocaine while only embryos of var. novogranatense contained cocaine. Tropacocaine was present in hypocotyls, stems and roots of var. novogranatense, but not in var. coca. Trans-cinnamoylcocaine was the most abundant alkaloid in cotyledons (12 weeks after seeding) and leaves (24 weeks after seeding) in both var. coca and var. novogranatense. After 52 weeks of seeding growth, cocaine was the preeminent alkaloid in leaves of both taxons with a cocaine content of 0.66 percent in var. coca and 1.04 percent in var. novogranatense.