You can harvest Job’s Tears seeds at any shade of green or black to make jewelry, but wait until it turns gray if you are saving seeds to replant. Photo by Molly Lyles

The concept of plants as jewelry has been around for thousands of years. As a child, you may remember using the flowers growing wild to make necklaces and crowns to wear. Using natural objects to adorn our bodies has a long history and evolution that has played a role in our lives and cultures. Even today, our finest jewelry pieces are ones from natural resources. Botanical pieces of jewelry play a major role in that history, and where we see these materials used can indicate and help identify certain cultures around the world. One of these plants that is a part of this history is Job’s tears.

A few years ago, I was introduced to this plant in a garden in Moncla, Louisiana. I was walking with a gardener and happened to notice her earrings. After I told her how much I liked them, she pointed to a plant in her garden with the same bead-like structures adorning the plant. It was growing, with its beautiful tear-like husks, among the other plants in her garden. She reached down to harvest some and demonstrated how they have natural holes in the middle that allow them to be used as beads for jewelry. It was such a wonderful moment to be able to see the plant producing these while she was wearing them as jewelry. As I did more research into this plant, I realized how wonderful it was for multiple reasons.

The plant’s husks, which surround the grains, are tear-shaped and produced abundantly — giving rise to the common name Job’s tears, a reference to the biblical character known for enduring great sorrow. Its scientific name is Coix lacryma-jobi. Botanically it is in the Poaceae family, and the genus, Coix, is Latin for corn. All meaning that it is a relative to the corn that you can see growing in our climate. Culinarily, it is used as an herb, vegetable and grain. The grains of Job’s tears can be consumed just like other grains, but its husk has another popular use. The husks which surround the seeds have been used as jewelry since 3000 B.C. in many cultures and religions around the world. One example is its use as rosary beads in the Catholic faith.

Harvested seeds from Job’s Tears can be used for jewelry making. Photo by Molly Lyles

It can be grown as an annual in the warm season but can survive as a perennial in areas with no frost. Plant them outside, about the same time corn is planted, when there is no danger of frost, and place them in an area that receives at least eight hours of sun. They can be directly seeded or started by transplant, which can allow you to start them earlier inside. Give them about a foot of space and expect to harvest the tear-like husks about four months from planting. I planted the seed about two years ago in my garden, and they reseed and come back every year. I let a few of the seeds drop from the plant to have more growing the next year.

There are multiple ways to harvest them for beads. Some harvest the seed when it is green and set it out to dry. As it dries, it will change colors into a greyish-pearl color. Others will let it mature on the plant and harvest when it gets closer to the greyish-pearl color. The reason that the seeds have a natural hollow center is due to how the male reproductive parts (tassels) grow up from that center.

If you are interested in learning more about growing this plant or would like seeds, email Molly Lyles at mlyles@agcenter.lsu.edu.