Coix

Coix is a genus of Asian and Australian plants in the grass family.
The best-known species is Coix lacryma-jobi, widely called Job's tears. Its variety Coix lacryma-jobi [var. ma-yuen|Coix lacryma-jobi var. ma-yuen] is cultivated in many warm regions as a source of food, medicine, and ornamentation.
The generic name is from Ancient Greek κόϊξ, which originally referred to the doum palm ; the fruits of the doum palm resemble the diaspores of Coix.

Species

Coix aquatica Roxb. - China, Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Peninsular Malaysia; naturalized in New Guinea
Coix gasteenii B.K.Simon - northern Queensland
Coix lacryma-jobi L. - China, Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia; naturalized in other parts of Asia as well as in southern Europe, Africa, the Americas, and various oceanic islands
Formerly Included

see ''Chionachne Polytoca Tripsacum''

Formerly included in

This genus was formerly placed in the Maydeae, now known to be polyphyletic.

Proteins and expression

Members of this genus produce their own variety of α-zein prolamins. These prolamins have undergone unusually rapid evolutionary divergence from closely related grasses, by way of copy-number changes.