Passiflora Supersect. Disemma (Labill.) J. M. MacDougal & Feuillet. Passiflora 13(2): 37. 2003 [2004]. Basionym: Disemma Labill. Sert. Austro-Caledon. 78, t. 79. 1824 [1825].

Passiflora herbertiana from Australia, with tube-shaped operculum that shields the nectary. Photo: S. Krosnick

Passiflora papilio with a strongly truncated leaf reminiscent of butterfly wings. Note raised nectaries on surface of leaf and auriculate petiolar glands. Photo:Wang Hong

Passiflora moluccana is the only species in the genus that has opposite to sub-opposite leaves. Photo: S. Krosnick

Passiflora perakensis, from Thailand and Malaysia, has sweetly scented flowers. This species and two of its closest relatives are distinctive in having the ovary entirely enclosed by the staminal filaments. Photo: S. Krosnick

Key to the Sections of Passiflora Subgenus Decaloba Supersection Disemma
1. Leaves ovate to trilobed; inflorescences generally reduced, branched through the first order only; androgynophore 1.5–5.0 cm long; nectar chamber 5-lobed.									2
	2. Leaves trilobed; flowers red, orange, or yellow in color; coronal filaments free, red, or yellow; operculum erect, or nearly so, large, yellow.								I. Section Disemma
	2. Leaves ovate to lanceolate; flowers blue to grey; coronal filaments fused into a tube, dark purple to black; operculum incurved, short, purple to black.								II. Section Hollrungiella
1. Leaves lanceolate, linear, orbicular, cordate, or strongly truncate with 2–3 apical lobes; inflorescences variously branched from first to fourth order; androgynophore 1.0 cm or shorter; nectar chamber unlobed.									III. Section Octandranthus

Supersection Disemma, comprises all 21 Old World members in subgenus Decaloba. Though this group is small when compared with the rest of the genus, supersection Disemma possesses an enormous degree of morphological diversity. Species in Disemma possess many unique features such as branched inflorescences, unusual leaf morphologies and arrangements, and multiplication of floral parts. Additionally, this group of species showcases examples of almost all of the diversity of floral and extrafloral nectary states found within Passiflora.

Three species of Disemma are found in Northeastern Australia, one species is endemic to Papua New Guinea, and 17 species occur in China, India, and Southeast Asia. Three Asian species display anomalous patterns of floral development (Krosnick et al. 2006), resulting in deviations from the standard number of floral parts in the genus (five petals, five sepals, five stamens, and one ovary with three styles). In the Asian species, up to five styles and eight stamens may be present and may vary among flowers within an inflorescence. The Australian and New Guinean species are also unique in their tubular floral shape, a feature that has lead to a historical taxonomic alignment with New World hummingbird-pollinated species. The single species from Papua New Guinea has a tubular flower that is gray with a deep purple center, though no information on pollinators is known. The Asian species typically possess branched inflorescences with 2 to 30 small white flowers, a condition that is generally rare within the genus.

Due to the diverse morphologies exhibited in this group, the circumscription of Disemma has varied significantly over the years. Both Masters (1871) and Harms (1925) felt that the tubular morphology was a significant feature that suggested a relationship between the four Austral-Pacific species and those in the New World section Murucuia (now part of supersection Decaloba). For example, Harms (1925) divided subgenus Decaloba into four sections in order to accommodate the Old World species: section Decaloba contained all of the Southeast Asian species, two Indian species, the Australian species, and some South American species. The remaining three sections were monotypic: section Hollrungiella contained the New Guinean endemic Passiflora hollrungii, section Octandranthus contained P. siamica, and section Anomopathanthus contained P. moluccana. Later, DeWilde (1972) reclassified subgenus Decaloba and divided it into seven sections, with all Old World species placed in section Disemma.

Currently, Feuillet and MacDougal (2003) retain the sections of Disemma as delimited by Harms: the Asian taxa are recognized in section Octandranthus, the Australian species belong to section Disemma, and the monotypic section Hollrungiella comprises the New Guinean endemic P. hollrungii. Preliminary (Krosnick and Freudenstein, 2005) and more extensive sampling (Krosnick, 2006) across the genus using molecular and morphological data support the monophyly of supersection Disemma within subgenus Decaloba. Sections Octandranthus and Disemma are well-supported as monophyletic. However, the New Guinean P. hollrungii, is resolved in either of two ways: as sister to the Australian clade, or as sister to the rest of supersection Disemma (Australia + Asia). Analyses currently in progress seek to resolve confidently the position of this important species.