4 
Indiana University Studies 
briefly the probable relationships. More detailed studies will 
probably be undertaken later. 
Coix 
We are greatly indebted to Sir George Watt for bringing 
together, in 1904, the available information about Coix (5). 
He gives a resume of the accounts of the plant in old works 
on medicine, horticulture, and natural history back to the 
time of Pliny, together with information obtained from ques- 
tionnaires sent out to all parts of India where Coix was found. 
The genus occurs wild in southern and eastern Asia and in 
the islands of the Pacific, and cultivated or as an escape from 
cultivation thruout all tropic and warm regions of the 
world. Three more or less distinct species have been de- 
scribed: C. Lachrymo-J obi L., C. gigantea Koen., and C. 
aquatica Roxb. Examination of a large number of specimens 
from many localities, however, shows so many intergradations 
and so little consistent correlation of diagnostic character- 
istics that, in a morphological consideration, the genus may 
as well be treated as a monotype, which is, indeed, the disposal 
that is made of it by many taxonomists. 
Plants that I have been able to grow in the field and in the 
greenhouse have embodied the principal significant charac- 
teristics of the genus as indicated in the taxonomic descrip- 
tions. The plant ordinarily has an upright stem one to eight 
feet in height, and some varieties are much taller in the trop- 
ics. One Indian variety is said to be a floating aquatic weed, 
sometimes reaching the length of 100 feet (5). The primary 
stem branches freely from the base, and branches may arise 
from practically any cauline node. As the time for flowering 
approaches, the ultimate branches appear, often in dense fas- 
cicles in the axils of the upper leaves (Figs. 1 and 2). The 
pith of the stem is solid, as in other species of the Maydeae 
and Andropogoneae. 
The leaves are usually glabrous or slightly roughened on 
the upper surface, but those of some varieties bear on their 
sheaths and blades short, unicellular hairs, which spring 
from a peculiar gland-like base (5). Sometimes vegetative 
parts of the plant are covered with a white, waxy “bloom,” 
which is usually associated with a penetrating odor much like 
that of tobacco. 
