Samkru / Job's Tear Grass
Coix lacryma-jobi
- Habit
- Herb
- Found in India
- Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka & more
- Flowering
- August-June
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Coix lacryma-jobi
- Genus
- Coix
- Family
- Poaceae
- Habit
- Herb
- Habitat
- Marshy areas
- Habitat type
- Wetland
- Native to
- Tropical Africa
- Distribution
- Tropics of the World
- Found in India
- Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Puducherry, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh
- Flowering & fruiting
- August-June
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Leaf characters
- Arrangement
- Alternate
Typical of the Poaceae family — a field-mark hint, not measured for this exact species.
Flower & fruit characters
- Flower colour
- Yellowrecorded“the male racemes project upright and consist of overlapping scale-like spikelets, with yellow stamens that pop out in-between, and there are one or two yarn-like stigmas drooping f” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Flower arrangement
- PaniclerecordedA branching cluster of clusters.“These shells cover the bases of the flowers (inflorescences) which are male and female racemes/panicles;” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Fruit type
- CapsulerecordedA dry fruit from a fused ovary that splits open at maturity to release seeds.“The hardened "shells" covering the seeds are technically the fruit-case or involucre (hardened bract), with the bract also referred to as "capsule-spathe" or "sheathing bract" by s” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Fruit surface
- Smooth, not spinyrecorded
Typical of the family
- Flower symmetry
- Actinomorphic (radially symmetrical)
- Inflorescence
- Spike
- Fruit
- Grain
Characters marked “recorded” are for Samkru itself; the rest are typical of the Poaceae family — flowering plants only.
Local Names
- Hindi
- संक्रू Samkru, संकलू Sanklu, गुर्लू Gurlu
- Nepali
- भिरगौंडी
- Bengali
- গুৰগুৰ Gurgur
- Tamil
- காட்டு குந்துமணி Kattu kundumani
- Telugu
- Adavi guruginja
- Kannada
- Manjutti, ಅಶ್ರು ಬೀಜ Ashru bija
- Malayalam
- Kattugotampu, കാട്ടുഗോതമ്പ്
- Marathi
- रान जोंधळा Ran Jondhala, रानमका Ran-maka, Kasai
About Samkru
Job's tear grass (Coix lacryma-jobi) belongs to the Poaceae family, where it grows as a herb. In India it has been recorded in Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka and 17 other states. It grows in marshy areas. Flowering and fruiting run from August to June.
Uses
In practice it is grown for parts that are eaten, long used in traditional medicine and planted as an ornamental. Those medicinal uses are traditional attributions, not medical advice.
Poaceae
Grass family
Samkru belongs to the Poaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
Explore the Poaceae family →Snap it. Know it.
Point your camera at Samkru or any plant and SASYA identifies it instantly — on-device, offline, and private.