COIX, JOE'S-TEARS; a genus of the triandria order, belonging to the monœcia class of plants. Of this there is but one species, a native of the Archipelago islands, and frequently cultivated in Spain and Portugal, and also in the West Indies. It is an annual plant, rising from a fibrous root, with two or three jointed stalks, to the height of two feet, with single, long, narrow leaves at each joint, resembling those of the reed; at the base of the leaves come out the spikes of flowers standing on short foot-stalks; the seeds greatly resemble those of Gromwell; whence the plant has by some writers been called Lithospermum. This plant may be propagated in this country by seeds
brought from Portugal, and sown on a hot-bed; after which the young plants are to be removed into a warm border, and planted at the distance of two feet at least from each other. They will require no other care than to be kept free from weeds. In Spain and Portugal the poor people grind the seeds of this plant, in times of scarcity, and make a coarse kind of bread of them. The seeds are inclosed in small capsules about the bigness of an English pea, and of different colours. These are strung upon silk, and used instead of bracelets by some of the poorer sort in the West Indies, but especially by the negroes.