Coix lacryma-jobiL.

Job's tears

WFO wfo-0000860428 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Coix lacryma-jobi, photographed by Dominik Maximilián Ramík
fig. a Dominik Maximilián Ramík, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-31 / obs. 203720607
Coix lacryma-jobi, photographed by Antoinette Eyssell Knox
fig. b Antoinette Eyssell Knox, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 181844160
Coix lacryma-jobi, photographed by 雲一百香果
fig. c 雲一百香果, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 178206356
Coix lacryma-jobi, photographed by Agnes Trekker
fig. d Agnes Trekker, CC0 1.0 / obs. 171751653
Coix lacryma-jobi, photographed by Lsf
fig. e Lsf, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 170838044
Coix lacryma-jobi, photographed by Zoltán Stekkelpak
fig. f Zoltán Stekkelpak, CC0 1.0 / obs. 170336914
Coix lacryma-jobi, photographed by S.MORE
fig. g S.MORE, CC0 1.0 / obs. 167122335
Coix lacryma-jobi, photographed by mami_t_t
fig. h mami_t_t, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 158707556

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 22 botanical countries

Regions where Coix lacryma-jobi is native: China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Taiwan, Tibet, Andaman Is., Assam, Bangladesh, Borneo, Cambodia, East Himalaya, India, Laos, Malaya, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicobar Is., Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, West Himalaya China South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanTaiwanTibetAssamBangladeshBorneoCambodiaEast HimalayaIndiaLaosMalayaMyanmarNepalPhilippinesSri LankaThailandVietnamWest Himalaya Andaman Is.Nicobar Is.
Native distribution of Coix lacryma-jobi, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Andaman Is. AND ASIA-TROPICAL
Assam ASS
Bangladesh BAN
Borneo BOR
Cambodia CBD
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Laos LAO
Malaya MLY
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
Nicobar Is. NCB
Philippines PHI
Sri Lanka SRL
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
West Himalaya WHM
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH
Taiwan TAI
Tibet CHT

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 36 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Coix agrestis Lour.
  • Coix agrestis var. maxima (Makino) Nakai
  • Coix arundinacea Lam.
  • Coix chinensis Tod.
  • Coix chinensis Tod. ex Balansa
  • Coix chinensis var. formosana (Ohwi) L.Liu
  • Coix exaltata Jacq.
  • Coix exaltata Fisch. ex J.Jacq.
  • Coix gigantea J.Jacq.
  • Coix lacryma L.
  • Coix lacryma-jobi f. agrestis (Lour.) Backer
  • Coix lacryma-jobi f. palustris (Koord.) Backer
  • Coix lacryma-jobi subsp. ma-yuen (Rom.Caill.) T.Koyama
  • Coix lacryma-jobi var. formosana Ohwi
  • Coix lacryma-jobi var. frumentacea Makino
  • Coix lacryma-jobi var. maxima Makino
  • Coix lacryma-jobi var. novoguineensis Pilg.
  • Coix lacryma-jobi var. tubulosa (Hack.) K.Schum.
  • Coix lacrymajobi var. exaltata (Fisch. ex J.Jacq.) Link
  • Coix lacrymajobi var. major Mimeur
  • Coix lacrymajobi var. minor Hassk.
  • Coix lacrymajobi var. monilifera Watt
  • Coix lacrymajobi var. oocarpa Buse
  • Coix ma-yuen Rom.Caill.

and 12 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.