Coix lacryma-jobi Seed Identity & Plant Part
The botanical entity is Coix lacryma-jobi L., a tall tropical grass of the family Poaceae. The part used is the seed, sold as the hulled kernel after the hard, glossy bead-like husk is removed. Leaves, stems, roots and husks are not added to this coix seed extract.
Job’s tears is often mistaken for pearl barley, Hordeum vulgare, because both are white, rounded kernels sold as grains, but the plants and the compositions differ. The coix kernel is rich in starch and protein and contains a lipid fraction with the glyceride mixture known as coixenolide, along with the benzoxazinoid coixol and polysaccharides. Water extraction leaves most of the lipid behind and brings the soluble sugars and polysaccharides into the powder.












