C.C. Townsend (1993) Cyathula. Flora of Somalia 1: 152-153
Plants annual or perennial herbs. Leaves opposite, entire. Inflorescences terminal on the stems and branches, spikelike or capitate, bracteate, the ultimate unit a triad of fertile flowers, the outer pair bracteolate andsubtended on each side by 2 modified bracteolate flowers consisting of uncinately hooked or straight spines or processes, but one or both of the pair sometimes absent; modified flowers at first bery small, rapidly accrescent in fruit; bracteoles sometimes also uncinately hooked. Tepals 5, shortly mucronate or sometimes, usually the outer 2, also uncinately hooked, serving with the btractoles to distribute the fruits; stamens 5, shorly unnited, alternating with distinct, usually dentate or lacerate pseudostaminodes; ovaries with 1 ovule; styles slender; stigmas capitate. Fruits thin-walled, irregularly rupturing capsules, falling with the perianth and bracteoles.
Cyathula includes about 30 species. They are native to the tropics of both the Old and New Worlds. There are two species described in the Flora of Somalia, one of which, Cyathula uncinulata, grows in Somaliland, the other, Cyathula coriacea, in Somalia.
Note: GBIF records include introduced and cultivated plants. Consequently, the distribution shown often differs from statements about a taxon's native distribution.