General Information

COMMON NAMES: Job's Tears TRADITIONAL NAMES: Poepoe (RR MG AT MK AK); Other Polynesian - Hana (TON), Sanasana (SAM), Sila (FIJ), Poepoe (TAH), Pū‘ohe‘ohe (HAW) GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE Asia - w.Pacific COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent (first record Wilder 1920s), Naturalised; S.Group (all islands with wetlands - common); Land, lowlands, wetlands SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Material (Adornment); Mild invasive in swamplands. KEY FEATURES: Tall annual grass, to 2m. LEAVES wide, flat, to 25x4cm. FLOWERS axial clusters; female within grey, beadlike sheath, to 15mm (the 'seed'); male protrude and soon discarded. The plants die during winter.

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present    Makatea: Present
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
++++	+++	++++	X	-		-		-

Northern Group:
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
-	-	-	-	-	-

Coix lacryma-jobi Linnaeus
TAXONOMY: PLANTAE; ANTHOPHYTA (=Angiospermae); LILIOPSIDA (=Monocotyledones); COMMELINIDAE; Cyperales; POACEAE

SIGNIFICANCE NOTES -
POSITIVE SIGNIFICANCE: Material (Adornment). Comments: The grey 'seeds' are used as beads for necklaces.
NEGATIVE SIGNIFICANCE: Mild invasive in swamplands.

IDENTIFICATION: Tall annual grass to 2m. LEAVES wide, flat, lancelike. FLOWERS several clusters in upper leaf-joints (=axils); each cluster on a long stalk with a grey beadlike sheath (=cupule / involucre) to 15mm; female flowers are inside the sheath, while male flowers protrude and are soon discarded. The sheath forms a hard white or grey 'seed'.

GENERAL NOTE: Cheeseman did not record this plant in May-June 1899, while Wilder recorded it in the 1920 as 'rapidly spreading along waterways, and is becoming a noxious weed. Probably accidentally introduced'. This seems to indicate that it is a Recent Introduction in the Cook Islands, as in Hawaii where Wagner et.al. record it as first noted around 1870 and first collected in 1903.

Vouchers:
None Recorded.

References:
p.1517 Wagner et al.- Flowering Plants of Hawaii
p.80 Neal - In Gardens of Hawaii
p.274 Royal Hort. Soc. Index of Garden Plants
p.1/388 A.C.Smith - Flora Vitiensis Nova
p.17 R Wilder - Flora of Rarotonga
p.392b Whistler - Ethnobotany of the Cook Islands

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zD02

Web Resources

• Google
• Google Images