Plants of the Gods S8E5: The Ethnobotany of Coca with Dr. Wade Davis
About this episode
Mark Plotkin and Wade Davis discuss the ethnobotany of coca, its cultural significance, and the misconceptions surrounding it.
Mark Plotkin sits down with Wade Davis — author of One River , Lost Amazon , and dozens more — for a deep dive into one of South America's most misunderstood and miraculous plants. Drawing on their shared history working alongside the legendary Richard Evans Schultes, the two ethnobotanists trace coca from its origins as a sacred, nutritionally rich plant used across Andean and Amazonian cultures to its unjust criminalization driven more by ideology and racism rather than science. Davis also breaks down the differences between the coca leaf, coca ine, and mambe, reflects on lessons from cannabis legalization, and makes a compelling case for why the world should finally embrace coca 's extraordinary potential. Show notes: "The Secret History of Coca " by Wade Davis for Rolling Stone Magazine: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/ coca -leaves-war-on-drugs- coca ine-1235310539/ Books by Wade Davis: https://daviswade.com/books
More episodes of The Plants of the Gods podcast
- Plants of the Gods: S8E9 Vanilla: The Forgotten History of the World's Most Beloved Flavor
- Plants of the Gods: S8E8 Vanilla, Pseudocopulation and Darwin's Favorite Orchid
- Plants of the Gods: S8E7 Rosa Vásquez Espinoza: Between Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science
- Plants of the Gods: S8E6 Richard Evans Schultes' Legacy — Where Science Meets the Sacred
- Plants of the Gods: S8E4 The research behind microdosing and medicine (Dr. Pamela Kryskow, Part 2)
- Plants of the Gods: S8E3 Can Psychedelics Treat "Incurable" Trauma? (Dr. Pamela Kryskow, Part 1)
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