Coix lacryma-jobi Seeds | Job’s Tears
LATIN NAME: Coix lacryma-jobi
COMMON NAME: Job’s Tears
Plant Profile
Among the ornamental and useful plants raised from seed, Job’s Tears (Coix lacryma-jobi) stands out as a tall, clumping, bamboo in the grass family. The flowering period doubles as a feeding season for bees and other pollinators. For the gardener, the sum of these traits is a plant that is easy to live with.
Science & Biotechnology
Job’s tears (yi yi ren) sits squarely on the food–medicine boundary: a gluten-free grain eaten across Asia, and a listed drug of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. Its oil yielded the coix seed emulsion known as Kanglaite, which is approved in China as an adjunctive injection in cancer therapy — one of the very few botanical injections to reach that regulatory level — with trials reporting improved quality of life and possibly better response when combined with chemotherapy. The kernel’s coixenolide and polysaccharides are studied for anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects. As a food grain it is entirely benign.
Like other members of the grass family, Coix lacryma-jobi draws steady attention from botanists and plant breeders, who value the genus both as a subject of research and as a source of garden-worthy material. Bead-like grains of the Job’s tears give it a long place in research on traditional grain crops of grass family, and lacryma-jobi species appears in studies of grain chemistry and nutty food value. Raising it from seed today is a matter of ordinary good practice rather than specialist skill.
Uses & Benefits
In the garden, Job’s Tears earns its place in borders, containers and mixed plantings, and it also rewards growers who raise plants for cutting, drying or kitchen use. In warm garden, the Job’s tears rosaries late-summer stems with grey beads. Grains serve soups and drinks for generations, polished beads serve necklaces and rosaries, and tall clump makes bold screen. It grows well in moist, well-drained, sunny ground. Given the right start, it carries on with minimal intervention.
Job’s tears, Yi Yi Ren, is both a gluten-free grain food and a major Chinese herb for water balance and skin health; coix seed oil derivatives have even reached clinical use as adjunct cancer-support injections in China.
Growing from Seed
Sow fresh seed of Job’s Tears under ordinary good conditions. Fill a pot with a light seed compost, sow evenly on the surface, cover thinly and stand it somewhere warm, bright and evenly moist. Move strong seedlings into individual pots, keep them in good light, and set them out when the weather and their size agree.
Our Take
The medicinal tradition behind this species, outlined above, is a large part of its interest. Given the right start, Job’s Tears is a long-term garden companion. Moisture matters most while plants are young; established plants cope with far more.
Related Reading
Gardeners who grow Job’s Tears often pair it with these related subjects: