Key to the sections of Disa
| 1a | Anther erect; spur pendent from the base of the median sepal | section Micranthae |
| 1b | Anther reflexed; if suberect, then spur not pendent from the base of the median sepal | 2 |
| 2a | Leaves tough and usually hysteranthous; lip rather wide, reniform, ovate or spathulate, sometimes with a long stalk; lip margin often lacerate or crenulate; petals falcate; flowers often blue or blue with white veins | section Trichochila |
| 2b | Leaves soft and synchronous; lip almost always narrow, filiform, linear or lorate (sometimes slightly wider in the apical part); lip margin smooth | 3 |
| 3a | Rostellum unlobed, viscidium mostly 1; petals and lip fleshy | section Monadenia |
| 3b | Rostellum 3-lobed, viscidia 2; petals and lip not fleshy | 4 |
| 4a | Petals reflexed next to the anther; spur mostly obsolete or shorter than the lateral sepals | 5 |
| 4b | Petals erect or falcate; spur variable, very rarely obsolete | 6 |
| 5a | Petals linear; flowers blue, rarely white | section Phlebidia |
| 5b | Petals more or less oblong; flowers not blue | section Disa |
| 6a | Petals falcate with a basal anticous lobe flanking the stigma; spur mostly shorter than the sepals | 7 |
| 6b | Petals erect, basal anticous lobe small or lost; spur usually as long as or longer than the sepals | 9 |
| 7a | Leaves linear to linear-lanceolate, not twisted; plants slender; from the Western Cape | section Disella |
| 7b | Leaves lanceolate to ovate; plants robust | 8 |
| 8a | Leaves lanceolate; petals free from the rostellum; spur ascending | section Intermedia |
| 8b | Leaves narrowly ovate to ovate; petals fused to the rostellum; spur not ascending | section Repandra |
| 9a | Petals fused to the rostellum by a keel | section Aconitoideae |
| 9b | Petals free from the rostellum | 10 |
| 10a | Lateral rostellum lobes horn-like, canaliculate; sterile shoots usually produced; spur usually subclavate | 11 |
| 10b | Lateral rostellum lobes square; sterile shoots absent; spur mostly tapering | 12 |
| 11a | Spur tapering; from the Western Cape | section Ovalifoliae |
| 11b | Spur subclavate; from north of Port Elizabeth (Eastern Cape | section Hircicornes |
| 12a | Leaves in a basal or radical cluster | 13 |
| 12b | Leaves all cauline | 17 |
| 13a | Leaves green at flowering; from the Drakensberg | section Austroalpinae |
| 13b | Leaves usually hysteranthous; if green at flowering, then from the Cape Floristic Region | 14 |
| 14a | Sepals less than 6 mm long | section Amphigena |
| 14b | Sepals 6 mm long or longer | 15 |
| 15a | Leaves lorate to lanceolate | section Coryphaea |
| 15b | Leaves linear | 16 |
| 16a | Galea often narrowed in the middle; lip margin entire, lip sessile | section Stenocarpa |
| 16b | Galea entrance not narrowed in the middle; lip often fimbriate, bearded or stalked | section Trichochila |
| 17a | Central rostellum lobe finger-like, taller than the lateral lobes | section Emarginatae |
| 17b | Central rostellum lobe insignificant | 18 |
| 18a | Spur parallel to the ovary | section Coryphaea |
| 18b | Spur angled at 25-90° to the ovary | section Stenocarpa |
World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet; http://www.kew.org/wcsp/ accessed 26.08.2013
