Abstract. Fluorescence spectra of lanthanum monoxide excited by selected Ar + and Kr + laser lines have been analysed by Fourier transform spectrometry. Rotational levels in the B 2 Σ + (v = 2, 3, 4) electronic state have been populated either directly or after collisional relaxation, inducing many fluorescence transitions to the ground state X 2 Σ + (v = 1 to 5). Under our experimental conditions, bands of the ∆v = 0 sequence of the B→X system also appear, fairly developed.A global treatment of the wavenumbers of some 830 lines in 9 bands of the system, involving the levels v = 0 to 4 and v = 0 to 5, is carried out. The consistent set of accurate effective spectroscopic constants for both electronic states, directly obtained at equilibrium, is expected to be useful for high resolution syntheses of S-type stellar spectra.