Amischotolype

{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}}

{{automatic taxobox

|image = Amischotolpe cf monosperma HabitusInflorescences BotGardBln0906.JPG

|image_caption= Amischotolype monosperma in cultivation at the Botanical Garden in Berlin

|display_parents = 3

|taxon = Amischotolype

|authority = Hassk. (1863){{cite journal |last=Hasskarl |first=J.K. |authorlink=Justus Carl Hasskarl |year=1863 |title=Adumbrationes Commelinacearum quarundam, quas in Africae orientalis littore, Mozambique reperit Prof. Peters et amplius in hujus opere "Reise etc." descripsit |language=Latin |journal=Flora |volume=46 |issue=25 |pages=385–393 |url=http://www.botanicus.org/page/55239}}

|type_species = Amischotolype glabrata

|type_species_authority = Hassk.

|synonyms_ref = {{cite web |title=Amischotolype Hassk. |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:7226-1 |website=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |access-date=21 March 2025}}

|synonyms =

• Forrestia A.Rich. 1834 not Raf. 1806
• Porandra {{small|D.Y.Hong (1974)}}

}}

Amischotolype is a genus of perennial monocotyledonous flowering plants in the Commelinaceae. It is found in Central Africa and from India through Southeast Asia to New Guinea,[http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=219137 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families]{{Citation| last =Hong| first =Deyuan; DeFillipps, Robert A.| contribution =Amischotolype | year =2000| title =Flora of China| editor-last =Wu| editor-first =Z. Y.; Raven, P.H.; Hong, D.Y.| volume =24| pages =23| place=Beijing| publisher =Science Press; St. Louis: Missouri Botanical Garden Press| contribution-url =http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=101362}} with the great majority or species found in Asia.Duistermaat, H. (2012). A taxonomic revision of Amischotolype (Commelinaceae) in Asia. Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 64: 51-131.

The name is derived from the Ancient Greek words αμισχος, meaning 'unstalked', and τολυπη, meaning 'tangle'. The genus is characterised by its rather compact inflorescences which are composed on two or more cincinni that pierce through the base of the leaf sheath, and also by its seeds that are embedded in red arils. Flowers are actinomorphic, and anthers release their pollen either through a pore at the tip or slits down the sides. They are typically encountered in forest understories. The genus Porandra, which consists of three Asian species, is considered by Robert Faden, a leading authority on the family, to be "doubtfully distinct" from Amischotolype,{{Citation| last =Faden| first =Robert B.| contribution =Commelinaceae| year =1998| title =The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants| editor-last =Kubitzki| editor-first =Klaus| volume =4| pages =109–128| place =Berlin| publisher =Springer| isbn=3-540-64061-4}} and Plants of the World Online considers it a synonym. Analysis of DNA sequences has shown that Amischotolype is most closely related to the genus Coleotrype, while these two are in turn most closely related to the genus Cyanotis plus its synonym Belosynapsis. These four genera form a clade that is found only in the Old World, while all of its immediate ancestors are present only in the New World.{{Citation| last =Evans| first =Timothy M.; Sytsma, Kenneth J.; Faden, Robert B.; Givnish, Thomas J.| title =Phylogenetic Relationships in the Commelinaceae: II. A Cladistic Analysis of rbcL Sequences and Morphology| volume =28| number=2| pages =270–292| journal =Systematic Botany| year = 2003 |doi=10.1043/0363-6445-28.2.270| doi-broken-date =11 July 2025}}