Coix lacryma-jobi

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Coix lacryma-jobi
Light:Full Sun
Moisture:Mesic
Hardiness:9
Soil pH:5.6-8.4
Height:3'
Width:0.5'
Blooms:Mid Summer-Mid Fall
Native to:
Edible Rating:PFAF Edibility RatingPFAF Edibility RatingPFAF Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating:PFAF Medicinal RatingPFAF Medicinal RatingPFAF Medicinal Rating
Tea:Yes
Poisonous

Coix lacryma-jobi (common name: job's tears)

Propagation: Seed - pre-soak for 2 hours in warm water and sow February/March in a greenhouse[1]. 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[2][1]. Seed can also be sown in situ in May[2] 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[3].

Division of root offshoots[4]. This is probably best done in the spring as plants come into fresh growth[4].

Cultivation: Succeeds in ordinary garden soil[5]. Best grown in an open sunny border[2][5]. 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[3].

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[3]. Before corn (Zea mays) became popular in Southern Asia, Job's tears was rather widely cultivated as a cereal in India[6][3]. It is a potentially very useful grain having a higher protein to carbohydrate ratio than any other cereal[7]. 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[7][8]. This form is widely used in macrobiotic diets and cuisine[8]. The ssp. stenocarpa is used for beads[7].

Whilst usually grown as an annual, the plant is perennial in essentially frost-free areas[3]. Plants have survived temperatures down to about -35°c[9]. (This report needs verifying, it seems rather dubious[K].) 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[K]. We have not as yet (1995) tried growing them on for a third year in a polyhouse[K].

Range: E. Asia - E. India.

Habitat: Wet places in grassland in the foothills of the Himalayas[10][6]. Open sunny places to elevations of 2000 metrs in Nepal[4].

Edibility: Seed - cooked. A pleasant mild flavour, it can be used in soups and broths[3].. It can be ground into a flour and used to make bread or used in any of the ways that rice is used[2][11][7][12][8]. The pounded flour is sometimes mixed with water like barley for barley water[3]. The pounded kernel is also made into a sweet dish by frying and coating with sugar[3]. It is also husked and eaten out of hand like a peanut[3]. The seed contains about 52% starch, 18% protein, 7% fat[13][14]. It is higher in protein and fat than rice but low in minerals[13]. This is a potentially very useful grain, it has a higher protein to carbohydrate ratio than any other cereal[7], though the hard seedcoat makes extraction of the flour rather difficult.

A tea can be made from the parched seeds[15][16][17][8], whilst beers and wines are made from the fermented grain[3].

A coffee is made from the roasted seed[8]. (This report refers to the ssp. ma-yuen)

Medicinal: The fruits are anodyne, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, antiseptic, antispasmodic, hypoglycaemic, hypotensive, sedative and vermifuge[18][19]. 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[3].

The seed, with the husk removed, is antirheumatic, diuretic, pectoral, refrigerant and tonic[20][18][21]. A tea from the boiled seeds is drunk as part of a treatment to cure warts[22][14]. It is also used in the treatment of lung abscess, lobar pneumonia, appendicitis, rheumatoid arthritis, beriberi, diarrhoea, oedema and difficult urination[23][20].

The plant has been used in the treatment of cancer[18].

The roots have been used in the treatment of menstrual disorders[21]. A decoction of the root has been used as an anthelmintic[4].

The fruit is harvested when ripe in the autumn and the husks are removed before using fresh, roasted or fermented[19].

Usage: The seeds are used as decorative beads[2][16][12][24][4].

The stems are used to make matting[6].

Pollinators: Wind

Soil: Can grow in light, medium, and heavy soils.

In Leaf: Late Spring-Mid Fall

Seed Ripens: Early Fall-Late Fall

Flower Type: Monoecious

Links

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bird, Alfred. Growing from Seed Volume 4. Thompson and Morgan, 1990.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Chittendon, Fred. RHS Dictionary of Plants. Oxford University Press, 1951.
  3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 Duke, James. Handbook of Energy Crops. 1983.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Manandhar, Narayan. Plants and People of Nepal. Timber Press, 2002.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Grounds, Roger. Ornamental Grasses. Christopher Helm, 1989.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Gupta, Basant. Forest Flora of Chakrata, Dehra Dun and Saharanpur. Forest Research Institute Press, 1945.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Schery. Robert. Plants for Man. Prentice Hall, 1972.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Facciola, Stephen. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications, 1990.
  9. ↑ Natural Food Institute. Wonder Crops 1987.
  10. ↑ Gamble, James. A Manual of Indian Timbers. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, 1972.
  11. ↑ Hedrick, Ulysses. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications, 1972.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Polunin, Oleg. Flowers of Europe. Oxford University Press, 1969.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Chakravarty, Hiralal. The Plant Wealth of Iraq. 1976.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Kariyone, Tatsuo. Atlas of Medicinal Plants.
  15. ↑ Uphof, Johannes. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim, 1959.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Usher, George. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable, 1974.
  17. ↑ Tanaka, Tyōzaburō. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing, 1976.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Duke, James and Edward Ayensu. Medicinal Plants of China. Reference Publications, 1985.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Bown, Deni. Royal Horticultural Society Encyclopaedia of Herbs and Their Uses. Dorling Kindersley, 1995.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Yeung, Him-Che. Handbook of Chinese Herbs and Formulas. Institute of Chinese Medicine, 1985.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Chopra, R. Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi, 1986.
  22. ↑ Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Oriental Herbs and Vegetables, Vol 39 No. 2. Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 1986.
  23. ↑ Revolutionary Health Committee of Hunan Province. A Barefoot Doctors Manual. Running Press.
  24. ↑ Hill, Albert. Economic Botany. The Maple Press, 1952.


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