The present paper deals with the infrageneric classification, phylogeny and geographic distribution of the genus Lomatogonium.

    A cladistic analysis was undertaken to establish the taxa and to evaluate the relationships between the taxa. The PAUP computer program was used in this analysis. The most parsimonious tree (Cladogram) of the rotate-corolla group of

subtribe Gentianinae shows that Lomatogonium is closely related to Lomatogoniopsis and Swertia, but distantly to Veratrilla. Among them, Swertia is more primitive  than Lomatogonium and hence Sect. Swertia was selected as the outgroup to polarize the character states of ingroup (Lomatogonium). A data matrix of 29 charaters of Lomatogonium was made for constructing the cladogram. Two most parsimonious trees were formed one of which, with the lowest f value, was at last selected as a shortest tree. In this tree 18 species fall into three groups, i.e. Sect. Sarcorhizoma, Sect. Lomatogonium and Sect. Pleurogynella. The former comes at a lower level with more plesiomorphies while the latter at a higher level with

more apomorphies. Lomatogonium is distributed in the northern temperate zone. However, 16 species are centred in Asia and two extend to Europe, or further to the Arctic region, but none has been found from Africa, Australia and South  erica. The analysis of distribution pattern of species shows that the Qinling-Hengduan Mountain region is both the frequence and diversity centers of Lomatogonium. From the cladogram of Lomatogonium (Fig. 5 ), L. perenne appears to occupy the most plesiomorphic node. This is an indication that it is the extant species closest to the ancestral form and it also implies that the ancestral species may reside in the habitat of this species (the Qinlin-Hengduan Mountain region). On the other hand, a  umber of species of Swertia Sect. Swertia also occur in this region today, which indicates that the Qinlin-Hengduan Mountain region may well be the original center of Lomatogonium. From the distribution pattern of L. rotatum, it can be concluded that the time of the origin dates back at least before the Pliocene. After emergence, this genus had first developed and dispersed in the original center and adjacent region, then diverged into two lineages. One gave rise to the widespread species (northern temperate distribution species L.

carinthiacum and L. rotatum), and the other formed the Himalayan species.