# Coix
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{{Short description|Genus of grasses}}
{{Automatic taxobox
|image = Coix lacryma-jobi 07.JPG
|image_caption = ''[Coix lacryma-jobi](/source/Coix_lacryma-jobi)''
|display_parents = 4
|parent_authority = [Rchb.](/source/Ludwig_Reichenbach) ex Clayton & Renvoize
|taxon = Coix
|authority = [L.](/source/Carl_Linnaeus)
|type_species = ''[Coix lacryma-jobi](/source/Coix_lacryma-jobi)''
|type_species_authority = [L.](/source/Carl_Linnaeus)[lectotype designated by Green, Prop. Brit. Bot.: 187 (1929)]
|synonyms_ref = [{{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}}]
|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](/source/genus) of [Asia](/source/Asia)n and [Australia](/source/Australia)n plants in the [grass family](/source/Poaceae).[[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/358993#page/414/mode/1up Linnaeus, Carl von. 1753. Species Plantarum 2: 972] in Latin][{{Cite web|url=https://www.tropicos.org/Name/40011841|title=Tropicos|website=www.tropicos.org}}]
The best-known species is ''[Coix lacryma-jobi](/source/Coix_lacryma-jobi),'' widely called [Job's tears](/source/Job's_tears). Its variety [''Coix lacryma-jobi'' var. ''ma-yuen''](/source/Coix_lacryma-jobi_var._ma-yuen) is cultivated in many warm regions as a source of food, medicine, and ornamentation.[Hill, A.F. 1952. Economic Botany, McGraw-Hill][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.]
The generic name is from Ancient Greek κόϊξ (''koix''), which originally referred to the doum palm (''[Hyphaene thebaica](/source/Hyphaene_thebaica)''); the fruits of the doum palm resemble the [diaspore](/source/Diaspore_(botany))s of ''Coix''.[{{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}}]
==Species==
[{{Cite web|url=http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/search?q=Coix|title=Search results — The Plant List|website=www.theplantlist.org}}]
*''[Coix aquatica](/source/Coix_aquatica)'' Roxb. - [China](/source/China) ([Yunnan](/source/Yunnan), [Guangdong](/source/Guangdong), [Guangxi](/source/Guangxi)), [Indian subcontinent](/source/Indian_subcontinent), [Indochina](/source/Indochina), [Peninsular Malaysia](/source/Peninsular_Malaysia); naturalized in [New Guinea](/source/New_Guinea)
*''[Coix gasteenii](/source/Coix_gasteenii)'' B.K.Simon - northern [Queensland](/source/Queensland)
*''[Coix lacryma-jobi](/source/Coix_lacryma-jobi)'' L. - [China](/source/China), [Indian subcontinent](/source/Indian_subcontinent), [Southeast Asia](/source/Southeast_Asia); naturalized in other parts of Asia as well as in southern [Europe](/source/Europe), [Africa](/source/Africa), the [Americas](/source/Americas), and various oceanic islands
==Formerly Included==
[
see ''[Chionachne](/source/Chionachne) [Polytoca](/source/Polytoca) [Tripsacum](/source/Tripsacum)''
{{Columns-list|colwidth=30em|
*''Coix angulata - [Tripsacum dactyloides](/source/Tripsacum_dactyloides)''
*''Coix barbata - [Chionachne gigantea](/source/Chionachne_gigantea)''
*''Coix crypsoides - [Chionachne gigantea](/source/Chionachne_gigantea)''
*''Coix dactyloides - [Tripsacum dactyloides](/source/Tripsacum_dactyloides)''
*''Coix gigantea'' J.Koenig 1788 not J.Koenig ex Roxb. 1932 - ''[Chionachne gigantea](/source/Chionachne_gigantea)''
*''Coix heteroclita - [Polytoca digitata](/source/Polytoca_digitata)''
*''Coix koenigii - [Chionachne gigantea](/source/Chionachne_gigantea)''
*''Coix sulcata - [Chionachne punctata](/source/Chionachne_punctata)''
}}
==Formerly included in==
This genus was formerly placed in the [Maydeae](/source/Maydeae), now known to be polyphyletic.][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)."]
==Proteins and expression==
Members of this genus produce their own variety of [α-zein](/source/zein) [prolamin](/source/prolamin)s. These prolamins have undergone unusually rapid evolutionary divergence from closely related grasses, by way of copy-number changes.[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)."]
==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](/source/Annual_Review_of_Plant_Biology) | publisher=[Annual Reviews](/source/Annual_Reviews_(publisher)) | 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'']
{{Taxonbar|from1=Q1186042|from2=Q21397912}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Coix
Category:Poaceae genera
Category:Botanical taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Category:Andropogoneae
{{Panicoideae-stub}}
{{medicinal-plant-stub}}
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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Coix](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coix) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coix?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.