If lacryma-jobi sounds strange, then everyone should be familiar with it. Yes, Job's tears are the essence of Job's tears. Coix lachryma-jobi belongs to the Gramineae, just like rice and wheat we usually eat. However, obtaining coix seed is not as simple as obtaining wheat and rice, because coix seed has a hard shell. It should be noted that this shell is not a pericarp, but an involucre, which wraps small flowers and seeds when the flowers wither. So it is not surprising that there are natural holes in this shell. It is because of this hard shell that Coix lachryma-jobi can become one of the ornaments. As long as the coix seed inside is removed, it can be worn into a necklace.
Coix lacryma-jobi has been used as jewelry since ancient times. The idiom "Coix lachryma-jobi pearl" refers to being slandered and wronged for no reason. It comes from a historical story: Ma Yuan (General Fu Bo), a famous soldier in the Eastern Han Dynasty, led troops to fight in southern Xinjiang, and many infantry fell ill. There is a local folk method to treat scrofula with coix seed, and the effect is really remarkable after use. When Ma Yuan pacified southern Xinjiang, he brought back several coix lachryma-jobi drugs. Who knows that after Ma Yuan's death, someone falsely accused him of bringing back several cars of coix seed, which was a large number of pearls. This incident was regarded as an unjust case by the ruling and opposition parties, so it was called "the slander of coix seed". Bai Juyi also wrote a poem "Coix lacryma Fubo".