Coix lacryma-jobi L.

DeFilipps, Robert A. & Krupnick, Gary A., 2018, The medicinal plants of Myanmar, PhytoKeys 102, pp. 1-341 : 142

Coix lacryma-jobi L.

Names.

Myanmar: ka-leik, kalein, kalein-thi, kyeik. English: adlay, adlay millet, Job’s tears.

Range.

Southeast Asia. In Myanmar found in Kachin and Yangon.

Uses.

Seed: Used to reduce body weight and as a diuretic.

Notes.

The medicinal uses of this species in India are discussed in Jain and DeFilipps (1991). Medicinal uses of this species in China are discussed in Duke and Ayensu (1985).

Perry (1980) covers the species’ uses in China, Japan, and India to the Philippines, and states that the kernels, separated from the shell, are used as a diuretic, stomachic, tonic; also to treat lung and chest complaints, rheumatism, dropsy, and gonorrhea.

The seeds contain coicin, glutamic acid, histidin, arginin, leucin, lycin, and tyrosin; the acetone extract of the seeds is said to show a growth-inhibiting activity, or an antitumor component, coixenolide ( Perry 1980).

Reference.

Nordal (1963).