Editing Passiflora (section)

==Taxonomy==
{{See also|List of Passiflora species}}

''Passiflora'' is the most species rich genus of both the family Passifloraceae and the tribe Passifloreae. With over 550 species, an extensive hierarchy of infrageneric ranks is required to represent the relationships of the species. The infrageneric classification of ''Passiflora'' not only uses the widely used ranks of subgenus, section and series, but also the rank of supersection.

The New World species of ''Passiflora'' were first divided among 22 subgenera by Killip (1938) in the first monograph of the genus.<ref name="Killip 1938" /> More recent work has reduced these to 4, which are commonly accepted today (in order from most basally to most recently branching):<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Feuillet |first1=C. |last2=MacDougal |first2=J. |date=2004 |title=A new infrageneric classification of Passiflora L. (Passifloraceae) |journal=Passiflora |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=34–35, 37–38}}</ref>
* ''[[Passiflora subg. Astrophea|Astrophea]]'' (Americas, ~60 species), trees and shrubs with simple, unlobed leaves
* ''Passiflora'' (Americas, ~250 species), woody vines with large flowers and elaborate [[corolla (botany)|corolla]]
* ''Deidamioides'' (Americas, 13 species), woody or herbaceous vines
* ''Decaloba'' (Americas, Asia and Australasia, ~230 species), herbaceous vines with palmately veined leaves

Some studies have shown that the segregate [[Old World]] genera ''[[Hollrungia]]'' and ''[[Tetrapathaea]]'' are nested within ''Passiflora'', and form a fifth subgenus (''Tetrapathaea'').<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Krosnick |first1=S.E. |last2=Ford |first2=A.J. |last3=Freudenstein |first3=J.V. |date=2009 |title=Taxonomic Revision of Passiflora Subgenus Tetrapathea Including the Monotypic Genera Hollrungia and Tetrapathea (Passifloraceae), and a New Species of Passiflora |journal=Systematic Botany |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=375–385 |doi=10.1600/036364409788606343 |s2cid=86038282}}</ref> Other studies support the current four subgenus classification.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hansen |first1=K.A. |last2=Gilbert |first2=L.E. |last3=Simpson |first3=B.B. |last4=Downie |first4=S.R. |last5=Cervi |first5=A.C. |last6=Jansen |first6=R.K. |date=2006 |title=Phylogenetic Relationships and Chromosome Number Evolution in Passiflora |journal=Systematic Botany |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=138–150 |doi=10.1600/036364406775971769 |s2cid=4820527}}</ref>

Relationships below the subgenus level are not known with certainty and are an active area of research. The Old World species form two clades – supersection ''Disemma'' (part of subgenus ''Decaloba'') and subgenus ''Tetrapathaea''. The former is composed of 21 species divided into sections ''Disemma'' (three Australian species), ''Holrungiella'' (one New Guinean species) and ''Octandranthus'' (seventeen south and east Asian species).<ref>Shawn Elizabeth Krosnick, PhD thesis, [http://drc.ohiolink.edu/handle/2374.OX/6144 Phylogenetic relationships and patterns of morphological evolution in the Old Word species of ''Passiflora'' (subgenus ''Decaloba'': supersection ''Disemma'' and subgenus ''Tetrapathaea'')] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720024640/http://drc.ohiolink.edu/handle/2374.OX/6144|date=20 July 2011}}</ref>

The remaining (New World) species of subgenus ''Decaloba'' are divided into seven supersections. Supersection ''Pterosperma'' includes four species from [[Central America]] and southern Mexico. Supersection ''Hahniopathanthus'' includes five species from Central America, [[Mexico]] and northernmost [[South America]]. Supersection ''Cicea'' includes nineteen species, with apetalous flowers. Supersection ''Bryonioides'' includes twenty-one species, with a distribution centered on Mexico. Supersection ''Auriculata'' includes eight species from South America, one of which is also found in Central America. Supersection ''Multiflora'' includes nineteen species. Supersection ''Decaloba'' includes 123 species.<ref>{{cite web |title=MBG: Research: Passiflora Research Network |url=http://www.mobot.org/mobot/research/passiflora/ |work=mobot.org}}</ref>