Coix aquatica — Edible Plant Database

What to Eat

Edible parts: Seeds, Cereal

The seeds are eaten as a cereal.

Where to Find It

It is a tropical plant. It can tolerate prolonged flooding. It grows in lakes, streams and open water between 500-1,800 m above sea level in southern China. In Yunnan.

Asia, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Himalayas, India*, Indochina, Malaysia, Myanmar, SE Asia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam,

Countries: United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Brunei, Bhutan, China, Georgia, Indonesia, Israel, India, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia, North Korea, South Korea, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Laos, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Mongolia, Maldives, Malaysia, Nepal, Oman, Philippines, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Syria, Thailand, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Taiwan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen

How to Identify

A large grass with thick stems that keeps growing from year to year. The stems can be floating or creeping. When in water there are floating swollen roots. The upper surface of the leaves has glands and these have bristle-like hairs.

Medicinal Uses

The roots are used in traditional medicine.

Other Information

It is cultivated.

Notes

There are 5 or 6 Coix species. The roots are used in medicine.

Names & Synonyms

Coix lingulata Hack.and others

References (5)

Arora, R. K., 2014, Diversity in Underutilized Plant Species - An Asia-Pacific Perspective. Bioversity International. p 102
Fl. ind. ed. 1832, 3:571. 1832
Romanowski, N., 2007, Edible Water Gardens. Hyland House. p 85
Swapna, M. M. et al, 2011, A review on the medicinal and edible aspects of aquatic and wetland plants of India. J. Med. Plants Res. 5 (33) pp. 7163-7176
Zeven, A. C. & de West, J. M. J., 1982, Dictionary of cultivated plants and their regions of diversity. Wageningen. p 53