Job's tears
Coix lacryma-jobi L.
Job's tears (Coix lacryma-jobi) is a grass; its hard glossy grains hold a starchy kernel; cooked in porridge, sweet soup and cooling drinks and used as beads; also called coix seed.
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Job's tears — Coix seedJob's tears — Plant
Job's tears — Plant (2)
Job's tears — Leaves
Job's tears — Seed heads
Job's tears — GrainsJob's tears — Coix seedJob's tears — PlantOverview
Job's tears (Coix lacryma-jobi), also called coix seed, is a grass of the family Poaceae native to tropical Asia. It grows 1–2 m tall with stout grooved, branching stems; the lance-shaped leaves are 20–50 cm long, alternate, with sheath and ligule. Unisexual spikelets grow on the same plant at the leaf axils and tips; the female ovary is enclosed by a hard bract that later swells into a hard, glossy false fruit, grey or white, pierced by a small pore — the part commonly called the grain. Inside the hard shell is a kernel rich in starch, protein and lipids together with compounds such as coixenolide and coixol. Job's tears prefers a warm climate and moist soil, often grows wild by water and is cultivated for its grain in many Asian countries. The kernel is cooked in porridge and sweet soups and made into cooling drinks, and is a familiar herb in traditional medicine; the hard glossy grains are also strung into necklaces and rosaries.
Life cycle
From seed to productPlant
https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/Coix_lacryma-jobi.jpg/1920px-Coix_lacryma-jobi.jpg
Leaves
https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Lagrima_de_Nossa_Senhora_%28Coix_lacryma-jobi%29.jpg/1920px-Lagrima_de_Nossa_Senhora_%28Coix_lacryma-jobi%29.jpg
Seed heads
https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/Coix_lacryma-jobi_%C5%81zawnica_ogrodowa_2018-10-06_01.jpg/1920px-Coix_lacryma-jobi_%C5%81zawnica_ogrodowa_2018-10-06_01.jpg
Ripe grains
https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/71/Seeds_of_Coix_lacryma-jobi.jpg/1920px-Seeds_of_Coix_lacryma-jobi.jpg
Distribution & origin
Share of recorded occurrences by region- Southeast Asia (incl. Vietnam)30%
- South Asia (India)30%
- China20%
- East Asia (Japan, Korea)10%
- Other tropics10%
Chemical composition
Relative content in agarwood resin- Carbohydrates (starch)65%
- Protein15%
- Water8%
- Fat5%
- Fibre5%
- Minerals & others2%
Uses
- Food: kernel cooked in porridge, sweet soup and cooling drinks; added to desserts, soups and cereals
- Medicine: in traditional medicine the kernel strengthens the spleen, is diuretic, dries damp and reduces inflammation; used for oedema, diarrhoea, warts and joint pain
- Ornamental: the hard glossy grains with natural pores are strung into beads, necklaces and rosaries
- Other: fodder, brewing, flour; roots used as an antiseptic
Properties
- Form
- Robust grass
- Grain
- Hard, glossy, pored
- Nature
- Cooling, mildly sweet
- Actions
- Strengthens spleen, diuretic, dries damp, anti-inflammatory
Habitat & conservation
Job's tears prefers a warm climate and moist loamy soil; it often grows wild along water and in wet fields. It is propagated by seed and grows quickly in the rainy season. In Vietnam it grows wild and is cultivated in many provinces; the hard grains are harvested and dried for medicine and food.
Conservation
A widespread tropical Asian species, not yet assessed by IUCN (NE). A common food and medicinal plant. Grass family (Poaceae), genus Coix.
References
- 1Plants of the World Online — Coix lacryma-jobi L. — Kew Science, 2026
- 2Job's tears — mô tả, thành phần, công dụng — Wikipedia tiếng Anh, 2026
- 3Ý dĩ — đặc điểm, công dụng — Wikipedia tiếng Việt, 2026
- 4薏苡 Coix lacryma-jobi — 形態、藥用 — Wikipedia tiếng Trung, 2026
- 5Nguồn ảnh: Craigallan.za (CC BY-SA 4.0) / Krzysztof Ziarnek (CC BY-SA 4.0) / Vanessa Salustriany (CC BY-SA 4.0) — Wikimedia Commons,
- 6Nguồn ảnh: Agnieszka Kwiecień, Nova (CC BY-SA 4.0) / Lionel Allorge (CC BY-SA 3.0) / Joe Wu (CC BY 2.0) — Wikimedia Commons,