The leaves vary much in shape on the same plant even, the upper and lower are different, and, probably owing to much cultivation and numerous varieties, the dried leaves in commerce are very variable in size and appearance, shape and colour, as well as state of preservation. They are usually one to two inches long, but large varieties are often four or five inches long. They are oval oblong, but some are ovate, while others are obovate, entire on the margin, sometimes acuminate, but usually blunt and emarginate, and often with an apiculus in the notch at the apex; rather thin, smooth, with a prominent midrib, and on each side a curved line running from the base to the apex. The fresh leaves are paler in colour beneath, and a bloom on the surface gives them a dichroic appearance; in one direction the upper surface appears yellowish green, whilst if looked at direct it is dark green. The dried leaves have a slight odour of tea, and a somewhat grass-like, bitter, aromatic taste; in colour they vary from a pale bright green, changing to a yellowish green (North Peruvian or Truxillo and Huanuco varieties)—this is smaller, thinner, and much broken—to a dull brownish olive (Bolivian variety), this is larger, broader, and a thicker leaf, not broken, paler in colour beneath; the inner curved lines from base to apex are very marked on this, but only faintly on the Truxillo variety, in some leaves hardly discernible. These two varieties shade off into each other. The Truxillo variety is imported principally from Salaverry, and, according to Hesse, is the product of _Erythroxylon Coca_, var. _Novo-granatense_, Dyer. The variety from Southern Peru is, he says, exported _viâ_ Lima, that from Bolivia from Arica and Mollendo. Huanuco and Cusca cocas are known in the markets as coming from provinces adjacent to these towns, where commercial houses have their headquarters. Some of the Coca finds its way to Europe through Para, the port at the mouth of the Amazon. Hesse says he obtains from these South American Cocas, 0·7 to 0·9 per cent. of alkaloids, of which the greater part consists of crystallizable cocaine in the broad-leaved variety, and about one-half in the narrow-leaved or Truxiilo Coca.—P.J. 1891, 1109. In selecting them, care should be taken that they have not fermented or become fusty—they may appear of a good green colour, yet have a mouldy taste. The leaves are also collected from wild plants which have strayed from cultivation. The original habitat of the Coca plant is not known; it has been acclimatised in Java, Ceylon, and some parts of India.