Coix — Mediated Wiki

{{Short description|Genus of grasses}} {{Automatic taxobox |image = Coix lacryma-jobi 07.JPG |image_caption = ''Coix lacryma-jobi'' |display_parents = 4 |parent_authority = Rchb. ex Clayton & Renvoize |taxon = Coix |authority = L. |type_species = ''Coix lacryma-jobi'' |type_species_authority = L.<ref>lectotype designated by Green, Prop. Brit. Bot.: 187 (1929)</ref> |synonyms_ref = <ref name=t>{{Cite web|url=https://wcsp.science.kew.org/prepareChecklist.do;jsessionid=4D2696EC4C1ED72A580A8221E77DD9B3.kppapp06-wcsp?checklist=selected_families%40%40129090520221614044|title=World Checklist of Selected Plant Families: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew|website=wcsp.science.kew.org}}</ref> |synonyms = *''Lachrymaria'' Heist. ex Fabr. *''Lachryma-jobi'' Ortega *''Lithagrostis'' Gaertn. *''Lacryma'' Medik. *''Sphaerium'' Kuntze }}

'''''Coix''''' {{IPAc-en|'|k|o:|I|k|s}} is a genus of Asian and Australian plants in the grass family.<ref>[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/358993#page/414/mode/1up Linnaeus, Carl von. 1753. Species Plantarum 2: 972] in Latin</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tropicos.org/Name/40011841|title=Tropicos|website=www.tropicos.org}}</ref>

The best-known species is ''Coix lacryma-jobi,'' widely called Job's tears. Its variety ''Coix lacryma-jobi'' var. ''ma-yuen'' is cultivated in many warm regions as a source of food, medicine, and ornamentation.<ref>Hill, A.F. 1952. Economic Botany, McGraw-Hill</ref><ref>Arora, R. K., 1977, "Job's tears ''(Coix lacryma-jobi)'' - a minor food and fodder crop of northeastern India." Economic Botany, Volume 31, issue 3, pages 358–366.</ref>

The generic name is from Ancient Greek κόϊξ (''koix''), which originally referred to the doum palm (''Hyphaene thebaica''); the fruits of the doum palm resemble the diaspores of ''Coix''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FQRHAAAAQBAJ&dq=coix+%22doum+palm%22&pg=PA75|title=Etymological Dictionary of Grasses|first1=Harold T.|last1=Clifford|first2=Peter D.|last2=Bostock|date=May 16, 2007|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9783540384342 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

==Species== <ref name=t/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/search?q=Coix|title=Search results — The Plant List|website=www.theplantlist.org}}</ref> *''Coix aquatica'' Roxb. - China (Yunnan, Guangdong, Guangxi), 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== <ref name=t/> see ''Chionachne Polytoca Tripsacum'' {{Columns-list|colwidth=30em| *''Coix angulata - Tripsacum dactyloides'' *''Coix barbata - Chionachne gigantea'' *''Coix crypsoides - Chionachne gigantea'' *''Coix dactyloides - Tripsacum dactyloides'' *''Coix gigantea'' J.Koenig 1788 not J.Koenig ex Roxb. 1932 - ''Chionachne gigantea'' *''Coix heteroclita - Polytoca digitata'' *''Coix koenigii - Chionachne gigantea'' *''Coix sulcata - Chionachne punctata'' }}

==Formerly included in== This genus was formerly placed in the Maydeae, now known to be polyphyletic.<ref group="Sch" name="Maydeae">p.{{spaces}}331, "Maize and ''Tripsacum'' were previously grouped with a number of other grasses that have monoecious flowering patterns {{mdash}} the most widely known being Job’s tears (''Coix lacryma-jobi'') {{mdash}} into the Maydeae (74); however, molecular data revealed that this grouping was polyphyletic (61)."</ref>

==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.<ref group="Sch" name="alpha-zein">p.{{spaces}}335, "Clusters of locally duplicated genes can also expand and contract rapidly, as shown by investigation of the 22-kDa α zein gene families in maize, sorghum, and coix, which appear to have experienced independent copy-number amplifications since the divergence of these three species (107)."</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}} * {{cite journal | last=Schnable | first=James C. | title=Genome Evolution in Maize: From Genomes Back to Genes | journal=Annual Review of Plant Biology | publisher=Annual Reviews | volume=66 | issue=1 | date=2015-04-29 | issn=1543-5008 | doi=10.1146/annurev-arplant-043014-115604 | pages=329–343| pmid=25494463 | doi-access=free }} {{Reflist|group="Sch"}}

==External links== * [http://www.kew.org/data/grasses-db/www/gen00145.htm The World Online Grass Flora Grassbase: ''Coix'']

Category:Coix Category:Poaceae genera Category:Botanical taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Category:Andropogoneae