Job’s tears

Job’s tears, (Coix lacryma-jobi), cereal grass of the family Poaceae, native to tropical Asia. Job’s tears receives its name from the hard shiny tear-shaped structures that enclose the seed kernels; those beadlike pseudocarps are sometimes used for jewelry and rosaries. Forms of the plant are cultivated as a cereal crop in parts of East Asia and in the Philippines, and its edible grains are sometimes marketed as Chinese pearl barley in the West. It is also grown as a garden ornamental.

Job’s tears is a tall perennial grass and is usually cultivated as an annual. It grows 1 to 3 metres (3.3 to nearly 10 feet) tall and features jointed stems with long flat leaf blades. Male and female flowers are borne on the same plant and bloom in the late summer. The pseudocarps that surround the seeds are off-white or dark in colour and are 6 to 12 mm (0.25 to 0.5 inch) long.