The genus was described in 1992 to accommodate the species formerly known as Tilletia ayresii, first described by British naturalist Miles Joseph Berkeley in 1899.
[3] They are swollen masses of spores with an apical opening, surrounded by a sac-like membrane comprising tissue of both host and fungal origin.
The structure supports a central semi-powdery mass made of spores, sterile cells, and balls of conidia.
[3] The spores are thick-walled, spherical or broadly elliptical, buff colored, with surface ornamentations, and dimensions of 13–16 or 12–13 by 16 μm.
[3] The type species C. ayresii has been collected from various locales in Africa (e.g. Cameroon, Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, Zimbabwe), Asia (Sri Lanka), Central America (Costa Rica), and South America (Brazil, Colombia).