''Amischotolype'' is a genus of perennial monocotyledonous

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s in the Commelinaceae. It is found in

Central Africa Central Africa is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries according to different definitions. Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, ...

and from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

through

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

,Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref> 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 Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

words αμισχος, meaning 'unstalked', and τολυπη, meaning 'tangle'. The genus is characterised by its rather compact

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

s 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

aril An aril (pronounced ), also called an arillus, is a specialized outgrowth from a seed that partly or completely covers the seed. An arillode or false aril is sometimes distinguished: whereas an aril grows from the attachment point of the see ...

s. Flowers are actinomorphic, and

anther The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

s release their pollen either through a pore at the tip or slits down the sides. They are typically encountered in forest understories. The closely related 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''. Analysis of

DNA sequence DNA sequencing is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence – the order of nucleotides in DNA. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. Th ...

s 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 very close relative '' Belosynapsis''. These four genera form a

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

that is found only in the

Old World The "Old World" is a term for Afro-Eurasia that originated in Europe , after Europeans became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, which were previously thought of by the ...

, while all of its immediate ancestors are present only in the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

. ; Species * '' Amischotolype barbarossa'' Duist. - Myanmar, Thailand, Sumatra * '' Amischotolype divaricata'' Duist. - Indochina, Sumatra * '' Amischotolype dolichandra'' Duist. - Assam * '' Amischotolype glabrata'' Hassk. - Himalayas, southern China, Tibet, Indochina, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, western Indonesia * '' Amischotolype gracilis'' (Ridl.) I.M.Turner - Borneo, Malaya, Sumatra * '' Amischotolype griffithii'' (C.B.Clarke) I.M.Turner - Malaya, Riau Islands * '' Amischotolype hirsuta'' (Hallier f.) Duist. - Borneo, Sumatra * '' Amischotolype hispida'' (A.Rich.) D.Y.Hong - Borneo, Sulawesi, Philippines, Maluku, New Guinea * ''

Amischotolype hookeri ''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, with the great majority or species found in Asia.Duistermaat, H. ...

'' (Hassk.) H.Hara - Nepal, Bangladesh, Assam, Bhutan, Arunachal Pradesh * '' Amischotolype irritans'' (Ridl.) I.M.Turner - Thailand, Sumatra, Malaya * '' Amischotolype laxiflora'' (Merr.) Faden - Borneo, Sulawesi * '' Amischotolype leiocarpa'' (Hallier f.) Duist. - Borneo * '' Amischotolype lobata'' Duist. - Borneo * '' Amischotolype marginata'' (Blume) Hassk - Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines * '' Amischotolype mollissima'' (Blume) Hassk - Java, Sumatra * '' Amischotolype monosperma'' (C.B.Clarke) I.M.Turner - Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Borneo * '' Amischotolype parvifructa'' Duist. - Cameron Highlands of Malaysia * '' Amischotolype pedicellata'' Duist. - Borneo * '' Amischotolype rostrata'' (Hassk.) Duist. - Java, Sumatra, Maluku * '' Amischotolype sphagnorrhiza'' Cowley - Brunei, Sarawak * '' Amischotolype strigosa'' Duist. - Sumatra * '' Amischotolype tenuis'' (C.B.Clarke) R.S.Rao - Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic, Zaire * '' Amischotolype welzeniana'' Duist. - Myanmar, Thailand

References

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q4746802 Commelinaceae Commelinales genera