Barley (Latin Semen Coicis English name Coix Seed) is also known as Job's Tears, Coix Seed, Coix Seed, Earth Corn, Job's Tears, Qi Shi, Job's Tears, back to the rice, rice kernel, six grain seeds. It is a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine. It is also a common, often eaten food, sweet, light and slightly cold, has the effect of water and swelling, spleen and dampness, soothing the muscles in addition to paralysis, heat and pus, for the commonly used diuretic medicine.

Family: Gramineae (Coix lacryma)

Morphological description:

Cultivated as an annual herb. Culms erect, 1 to 1.5 meters tall, with about 10 nodes. Leaf sheaths smooth, upper ones shorter than internodes; ligules stiff, ca. 1 mm; leaf blades linear-lanceolate, up to 30 cm long, 1.5-3 cm wide. Racemes, axillary bundles, 6-10 cm long, erect or pendulous, with a petiole; female spikelets in the lower part of the inflorescence, 7-9 mm long, enveloped in a moniliform involucre, spikelets and involucre equal in length, fertile spikelet first glume proximally membranous, distally thickly papery, apex obtuse, with 10-numerous veins; second glume shipshape, enclosed within the first glume, apex thickly papery, acuminate; first floret lemma only, slightly shorter than the glumes, apex thicker and more acuminate; second glume boat-shaped, encapsulated within the first glume, apex thickly papery and acuminate. thicker and acuminate; second lemma slightly shorter than first, 3-veined; palea similar to lemma but smaller; stamens 3, staminodes, minute; pistillode with long style, stigma detached, projecting from involucre; staminodes with 2 female spikelets, terete, juxtaposed on one side of fertile spikelet, apically protruding from involucre; male spikelets often 3 inserted in a node, one of them sessile, 6-7 mm long, glumes leathery, first glume flattened, both sides first glume leathery, first glume flattened, sides folded into ridges, apex obtuse, with many veins; second glume boat-shaped, with many veins; containing 2 florets, lemma and palea both thinly membranous; each floret containing 3 stamens; stalked and sessile spikelets similar, but smaller or more reduced. Fruit ripening, involucre hard enameled, ovate or ovoid-globose, enclosing glumes; glumes, ca. 5 mm. Flowering and fruiting July to October.

Ecology:

Preferring to be born in humid areas, but tolerant of flooding and drought. Cultivated throughout China. Wild throughout the south of the Yangtze River.

Traits of herbs:

This product is broadly ovate or long oval, 4-8mm long, 3-6mm wide. the surface is creamy white, smooth, with occasional remnants of yellow-brown seed coat. One end is obtuse and rounded, the other end is wider and slightly concave, with a light brown dotted umbilicus. The dorsal surface is rounded and convex, and the ventral surface has a broader and deeper longitudinal groove. The texture is firm, white in section, powdery. The flavor is slightly sweet.

Origin: Fujian, Hebei, Liaoning

Harvesting: November to December. Sun-dried, beat down the fruit, and then sun-dried, remove the shell, yellow-brown seed coat and impurities,

Composition: Job's tears are mainly composed of protein, vitamin B1, B2 has the effect of making the skin smooth, reducing wrinkles, eliminating pigmentation spots, and long-term consumption, can treat brown spots, freckles, facial blisters, so that the spots disappeared and moisturize the skin. And it can promote the metabolism of blood and water in the body, with diuretic, edema effect, it is also used as diet supplies.

Therapeutic effects: Job's tears oil has the role of excitation, antipyretic, stop, but also anti-inflammatory pus effect, for cancer cells can also inhibit the growth.

1. For hair: it has the effect of nourishing hair, preventing hair loss, and making hair smooth and soft.

2. For the skin: facial acne and skin roughness has obvious curative effect, in addition, it also has the ability to absorb ultraviolet rays, and its extracts can be added to cosmetics can also achieve the effect of sunscreen and ultraviolet radiation.

In addition, Job's tears are considered a kind of grain, boiled in water to soften or fried, more conducive to the absorption of the stomach and intestines, the body often feel fatigue and no strength of the people, you can eat more. Job's tears are rich in proteolytic enzymes that can soften skin keratin, skin warts, rough and not smooth, long-term use of the efficacy.

DIY

Practice: the simplest, is the fried barley as a tea to drink, or will be fried after the barley grinding, daily service barley powder. The most important thing to remember is that you can't be a good person and you can't be a bad person. It can also be cooked with green beans, cooked into green beans and barley porridge (before cooking barley soaked in water to soften, cooking will be faster).