job’s-tears

noun

1. (used with a plural verb) the hard, nearly spherical bracts that surround the female flowers of an Asian grass, Coix lacryma-jobi, and which when ripe are used as beads.
2. (used with a singular verb) the grass itself.

noun

1. (functioning as singular) a tropical Asian grass, Coix lacryma-jobi, cultivated for its white beadlike modified leaves, which contain edible seeds
2. (functioning as plural) the beadlike structures of this plant, used as rosary or ornamental beads