C.C. Townsend (1993) Gomphrena. Flora of Somalia 1: 167.
Plants annualor, occasionally, perennial herbs. Leaves opposite. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, capitate or spicate, solitary to clustered. Flowers bisexual, solitary in the axil of a bract and 2 bracteoles; bracteoles laterally compresse, keeled, often more or less winged or cristate dorsally, falling with the fruiting perianths. Tepals 5, erect, free or almost so, more or less lanate on the outside, the inner 2 more or less indurate at the base; stamens 5, united into shortly 5-dentate tubes with entire to deeply bilobed teeth; anthers unilocular; styles long or short; stigmas filiform to very short. Fruits thin-walled, irregularly rupturing, capsules.
Gomphrena is a genus of about 90 species. It is centred in tropical America, but also has many Australian representatives. One species Gomprena globosa, is widely cultivate. Ahtough it had not been found in Somaliland or Somalia at the time of publication, Townsend stated it was probably being cultivated in one or both of Somaliland and Somalia
Note: GBIF records include introduced and cultivated plants. Consequently, the distribution shown often differs from statements about a taxon's native distribution.
