Felwort [Greek lomatis, fringe or hem, and gonium, diminutive of gone, pistil, alluding to decurrence of stigma along ovary margin]

James S. Pringle

Herbs annual [perennial], chlorophyllous, glabrous. Leaves basal (often withering early) and cauline, opposite. Inflorescences diffuse cymes, often also axillary. Flowers 4, 5 (or 6)-merous; calyx lobed nearly to base; corolla white or blue [violet-blue], rotate [to widely campanulate], glabrous, lobes much longer than tube, margins entire or nearly so, plicae between lobes absent, spurs absent; stamens inserted near base of corolla tube; anthers distinct; ovary sessile; style absent; stigma 2-lobed, ± decurrent along sutures of ovary, not coiling; nectaries in pits on corolla tube near summit, 2 [1] per petal, rim of openings with [without] fringed, scalelike, or tubular prolongations. Capsules compressed-ellipsoid. x = 8 (see discussion under L. rotatum).

Species ca. 20 (1 in the flora): North America, Eurasia; montane to alpine and boreal to arctic areas.

Prior to the mid-twentieth century, this genus was generally known by the illegitimate name Pleurogyne Eschscholtz ex Grisebach.

Lomatogonium and Comastoma are closely related (R. Wettstein 1896; K. B. von Hagen and J. W. Kadereit 2002). Further transfers in both directions might be appropriate, but the taxa in the flora area would probably not be affected. Lomatogonium is also closely related to Swertia and has occasionally been included in that genus. Borderline cases with regard to the position of the stigmas occur in some Asiatic species.

SELECTED REFERENCE Liu, S. W. and Ho T. N. 1992. Systematic study on Lomatogonium A. Br. (Gentianaceae). Acta Phytotax. Sin. 30: 289–319.

Lower Taxon

• Lomatogonium rotatum (Linnaeus) Fries