Investigating the taxonomy of the coca clade (Erythroxylum spp)

South American coca (Erythroxylum coca and E. novogranatense) has been a keystone crop for many Andean and Amazonian communities for at least 8000 years. The principal means to identify coca plants is leaf morphology, yet the extent to which this is reflected in taxonomy is uncertain. In our study, we analyse the consistency of the current naming system of coca and its four closest wild relatives, using morphometrics, phylogenomics, and population genomics. The new data generated here were used for plastid and nuclear phylogeny reconstruction for the two currently recognised species of coca and its closest wild relatives (the coca clade).