Research news:

New research web pages by Shankar Pant and Kunjani Joshi have been published on this website about Nepalese Swertia, a genus used for its medicinal properties. (December 2008)

A field guide in English, Portuguese, or Spanish for the genus Tachia is now available as a free download on this web site. (May 2005)

The genus Wurdackanthus is no more. Phylogenetic analyses by Katherine Gould Mathews and Lena Struwe showed that Wurdackanthus was a paraphyletic unit most closely related to Symbolanthus, so it is now included inside Symbolanthus (Gould & Struwe, 2004; pdf; Struwe & Gould, 2004; pdf). (Jan 2005)

Several new species in Helieae, have been described in recent papers, for example in Symbolanthus (Struwe, 2003; pdf - Bolivia) (Jan 2005)

Macrocarpaea apparata, a new gentian species was named by Jason Grant and Lena Struwe after Harry Potter's adventures (Grant & Struwe, 2003; pdf). Jason has also published several other papers with many new Macrocarpaea species, some with Richard Weaver, see Grant & Weaver (2003) and Grant (2004; pdf). (July 2003, Jan 2005)

A detailed evolutionary analysis of Exaceae with biogeographic implications for the Indian Ocean region, Africa and Madagascar was published by Yong-Ming Yuan and collaborators (Yuan et al., 2003: pdf). (Jan 2005)

The large genus Centaurium, the centauries, has been divided up into 4 genera: Centaurium, Gyrandra, Schenkia, and Zeltnera by Guilhem Mansion (2004; pdf), based on new evolutionary results. It was necessary to split up Centaurium because the old genus included four unrelated groups of species. A paper on the biogeography of this group in tribe Chironieae was also published (Mansion & Struwe, 2004; pdf) as well as a paper on Zeltnera in the Americas (Mansion & Zeltner, 2004; pdf). This means that many of the common weeds in the Centaurium genus around the world now have a new genus name.  (Nov 2004)

Gentiana section Stenogyne has been segregated into the new genus Metagentiana by Ho (2004). Metagentiana is closely related to Crawfurdia and Tripterospermum. (Aug 2004)

7 new species of gentians were recently described from Vietnam by S. Hul (Hul, 2002; in Crawfurdia, Gentiana, and Tripterospermum)

Gentian Research Network updates and news:

Significant updates to the website with the addition of many photos, new research results, and updated classification.

A page for kids about gentians (Dec 2004)

Selected images of Martius' drawings (photo courtesy by Paul Maas - thank you!) Nov 2004)

Postcards of gentians for free download and printing are now available on this site. (Aug 2004)

Drawings of gentians from Flora of Venezuelan Guayana, the area of the Lost World in South America, are now available on this website. (courtesy by Missouri Botanic Garden and the FVG project - thank you!) (May 2004)

Comical gentians - great drawings by Guilhem Mansion of how some European gentians might have gotten their names. (courtesy by the artist himself - thank you!) (Feb 2004)

A letter dated 1944 from a young sailor, Denis Davies, that worked on HMS Gentian during the hardships of World War II has been added, together with a history of this short-lived ship.  (courtesy of Denis' son, Richard Davis - thank you!)