Job's Tears
Coix lacryma-jobi
Family: Poaceae or Gramineae
What it is like
Coix lacryma-jobi is a PERENNIAL growing to 1 m (3ft 3in) by 0.2 m (0ft 8in). See above for USDA hardiness. It is hardy to UK zone 9. It is in leaf from May to October, in flower from July to October, and the seeds ripen from September to November. The species is monoecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant) and is pollinated by Wind. Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. Suitable pH: mildly acid, neutral and basic (mildly alkaline) soils and can grow in very acid soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It prefers moist soil.
Height (m): 1
Where it is found
Wet places in grassland in the foothills of the Himalayas. Open sunny places to elevations of 2000 metrs in Nepal.
E. Asia - E. India.
Conservation Status:
Countries/locations it is found in
How it is used
Food
Rating: 3
Seed - cooked. A pleasant mild flavour, it can be used in soups and broths.. It can be ground into a flour and used to make bread or used in any of the ways that rice is used. The pounded flour is sometimes mixed with water like barley for barley water. The pounded kernel is also made into a sweet dish by frying and coating with sugar. It is also husked and eaten out of hand like a peanut. The seed contains about 52% starch, 18% protein, 7% fat. It is higher in protein and fat than rice but low in minerals. This is a potentially very useful grain, it has a higher protein to carbohydrate ratio than any other cereal, though the hard seedcoat makes extraction of the flour rather difficult. A tea can be made from the parched seeds, whilst beers and wines are made from the fermented grain. A coffee is made from the roasted seed. (This report refers to the ssp. ma-yuen)
Seed: includes nuts, cereals, peas and beans.
Coffee: the various substitutes that can be used instead of coffee.
Tea: the various herb teas that can be used in place of tea, plus the genuine article.
Medicine
Rating: 3
The fruits are anodyne, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, antiseptic, antispasmodic, hypoglycaemic, hypotensive, sedative and vermifuge. The fruits are used in folk remedies for abdominal tumours, oesophageal, gastrointestinal, and lung cancers, various tumours, as well as excrescences, warts, and whitlows. This folk reputation is all the more interesting when reading that one of the active constituents of the plant, coixenolide, has antitumor activity. The seed, with the husk removed, is antirheumatic, diuretic, pectoral, refrigerant and tonic. A tea from the boiled seeds is drunk as part of a treatment to cure warts. It is also used in the treatment of lung abscess, lobar pneumonia, appendicitis, rheumatoid arthritis, beriberi, diarrhoea, oedema and difficult urination. The plant has been used in the treatment of cancer. The roots have been used in the treatment of menstrual disorders. A decoction of the root has been used as an anthelmintic. The fruit is harvested when ripe in the autumn and the husks are removed before using fresh, roasted or fermented.
Anodyne: Relieves pain, it is milder than an analgesic.
Anthelmintic: Expels parasites from the gut.
Antiinflammatory: Reduces inflammation of joints, injuries etc.
Antipyretic: Treats fevers. See Febrifuge.
Antirheumatic: Treats rheumatism.
Antispasmodic: Relaxes muscular spasms and cramps, calming nervous irritation.
Cancer: Used in the treatment of cancer.
Diuretic: Acts on the kidneys, promoting the flow of urine.
Hypoglycaemic: Reduces the levels of sugar in the blood.
Pectoral: Relieves respiratory diseases, a remedy for chest diseases.
Refrigerant: Cools the body.
Sedative: Gently calms, reducing nervousness, distress and irritation.
Tonic: Improves general health. Slower acting than a stimulant, it brings steady improvement.
Warts: Used in the treatment of warts, corns etc.
Other
Rating:
The seeds are used as decorative beads. The stems are used to make matting.
Beads: Used as necklaces etc.
Fodder: Food given to the animals (including plants cut and carried to them) rather than forage for themselves.
Weaving: Items such as grass and palm leaves that are woven together for making mats, baskets etc. See also Basket making and Fibre.
Fodder: Bank: Fodder banks are plantings of high-quality fodder species. Their goal is to maintain healthy productive animals. They can be utilized all year, but are designed to bridge the forage scarcity of annual dry seasons. Fodder bank plants are usually trees or shrubs, and often legumes. The relatively deep roots of these woody perennials allow them to reach soil nutrients and moisture not available to grasses and herbaceous plants.
Hypothetical Crop: These are perennial plants that could potentially be developed for cultivation. Some, such as cycads (for industrial starch), as simply neglected; others, such as buckwheat and soybeans, are annual crops that could potentially be perennialised by crossing and relatives.
Management: Standard: Plants grow to their standard height. Harvest fruit, seeds, or other products. Non-Destructive management systems.
Staple Crop: Balanced carb: (0-15 percent protein, 0-15 percent oil, with at least one over 5 percent). The carbohydrates are from either starch or sugar. Annuals include maize, wheat, rice, and potato. Perennials include chestnuts, carob, perennial fruits, nuts, cereals, pseudocereals, woody pods, and acorns.
Fodder: Bank: Fodder banks are plantings of high-quality fodder species. Their goal is to maintain healthy productive animals. They can be utilized all year, but are designed to bridge the forage scarcity of annual dry seasons. Fodder bank plants are usually trees or shrubs, and often legumes. The relatively deep roots of these woody perennials allow them to reach soil nutrients and moisture not available to grasses and herbaceous plants.
Hypothetical Crop: These are perennial plants that could potentially be developed for cultivation. Some, such as cycads (for industrial starch), as simply neglected; others, such as buckwheat and soybeans, are annual crops that could potentially be perennialised by crossing and relatives.
Management: Standard: Plants grow to their standard height. Harvest fruit, seeds, or other products. Non-Destructive management systems.
Staple Crop: Balanced carb: (0-15 percent protein, 0-15 percent oil, with at least one over 5 percent). The carbohydrates are from either starch or sugar. Annuals include maize, wheat, rice, and potato. Perennials include chestnuts, carob, perennial fruits, nuts, cereals, pseudocereals, woody pods, and acorns.
Carbon Farming: Plants that can be a critical part of the solution to climate problems. The Carbon Farming Solution - Eric Toensmeier.
How it is grown
Succeeds in ordinary garden soil. Best grown in an open sunny border. Prefers a little shelter from the wind. Job's Tears is reported to tolerate an annual precipitation in the range of 61 to 429cm, an average annual temperature of 9.6 to 27.8°C and a pH in the range of 4.5 to 8.4. Weed to some, necklace to others, staff-of-life to others, job's tear is a very useful and productive grass increasingly viewed as a potential energy source. Before corn (Zea mays) became popular in Southern Asia, Job's tears was rather widely cultivated as a cereal in India. It is a potentially very useful grain having a higher protein to carbohydrate ratio than any other cereal. The seed has a very tough shell however making it rather difficult to extract the grain. The ssp. ma-yuen. (Roman.)Stapf. is grown for its edible seed and medicinal virtues in China, the seedcoat is said to be soft and easily removed. This form is widely used in macrobiotic diets and cuisine. The ssp. stenocarpa is used for beads. Whilst usually grown as an annual, the plant is perennial in essentially frost-free areas. Plants have survived temperatures down to about -35°c. (This report needs verifying, it seems rather dubious.) Plants have often overwintered when growing in a polyhouse with us, they have then gone on to produce another crop of seed in their second year. We have not as yet (1995) tried growing them on for a third year in a polyhouse.
Propagating it: Seed - pre-soak for 2 hours in warm water and sow February/March in a greenhouse. The seed usually germinates in 3 - 4 weeks at 25°c. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots. Grow them on in cool conditions and plant out in late spring after the last expected frosts. Seed can also be sown in situ in May though it would be unlikely to ripen its seed in an average British summer. In a suitable climate, it takes about 4 - 5 months from seed to produce new seed. Division of root offshoots. This is probably best done in the spring as plants come into fresh growth.
Best place to grow: Cultivated Beds;
Habit: Perennial
Hardiness: 8-11
Growth:
Soil: Light (sandy), medium, heavy (clay)
Shade: No shade
Moisture: Moist