A dataset on inventory and geographical distributions of wild vascular plants in Hainan Province, China

Hainan Province is an area with a large contiguous area of tropical rainforest in China. It is one of the key areas of biodiversity with the largest tropical rainforest area and the most abundant species diversity in China. During 2012–2015, the Inventory of Plant Species Diversity of Hainan, List of Species in Hainan, and Illustrated Handbook of Plants in Hainan were published in succession. The progress of related cataloging is relatively advanced in China. However, with the in-depth study of Hainan plants, the names of some vascular plant taxa originally recorded have changed after new taxonomic revision. The classification of families and genera and their names need to be adjusted. At the same time, the original classification system also need to be updated. Based on the List of Species in Hainan and Illustrated Handbook of Plants in Hainan, combined with experience from many years of practical field investigation, we systematically searched the literature to fill the gaps in the existing catalog data, checking for omissions and deficiencies. The name was revised, the classification system updated, and relevant information such as plant distribution areas and protection levels improved. Finally, the cataloging and distribution dataset of wild vascular plants in Hainan Province was complete. As of February 2023, the dataset had 4,945 records, including 39 species of lychophytes belonging to 6 genera of 2 families; 531 species of ferns belonging to 121 genera of 32 families; 27 species of gymnosperms belonging to 10 genera of 6 families, and 4,348 species of angiosperms belonging to 1,380 genera of 181 families. Among them, there were 173 species listed in the List of National Key Protected Wild Plants (2021) (8 species in the first class and 165 species in the second class); there were 4,769 species of native wild plants belonging to 1,448 genera and 216 families (including 516 endemic species of Hainan) and 176 species of exotic and naturalized plants (including 63 invasive species). Compared with the first edition of the List of Species in Hainan, the total number of wild vascular plants increased by 225 species. This dataset can be used as important basic data for vascular plant diversity monitoring and protection in Hainan Province.