Vascular Plants of Japan Database (VPJD): Taxonomic Release v1.0.0

The Vascular Plants of Japan Database (VPJD) is a taxonomically reconciled data resource developed within the Oxford–Japan Plant Conservation Partnership (OJPCP) to support research and conservation of the vascular flora of Japan. This v1.0.0 taxonomic release provides the first versioned and reproducible VPJD taxonomic backbone. It contains 12,037 recognised vascular plant taxa, comprising 12,006 accepted taxa and 31 artificial hybrid concepts, reconciled against the World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP), version 16, accessed 4th June 2026. The taxonomic reconciliation is underpinned by 3,284,719 georeferenced vascular plant occurrence records from Japan, representing 21,165 occurrence-derived source taxon concepts. The release provides a taxonomic crosswalk preserving the relationship between these source concepts and the recognised VPJD/WCVP taxonomic backbone. Concepts that could not be fully reconciled are retained explicitly, including 1,483 unresolved source concepts and 18 taxonomically unplaced source concepts, rather than being discarded from the reconciliation record. The release includes publication-facing taxonomic tables, a full reconciliation and recovery audit table, data dictionary, validation summaries, file manifest, SHA-256 checksums, and provenance documentation. Occurrence evidence was obtained through a GBIF-mediated download (GBIF download DOI: 10.15468/dl.hyuu23). The underlying GBIF records retain the licences assigned by their respective data publishers and are not relicensed by VPJD. Taxonomic reconciliation uses WCVP v16, facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (DOI: 10.34885/nswv-8994). WCVP-derived taxonomic content remains subject to the applicable rights and terms of the source. This release establishes the VPJD taxonomic foundation. It does not include the definitive VPJD Star rating used within the Bioquality concept. Star ratings categorise taxa according to global rarity, from Black Star taxa with the most restricted global ranges through Gold, Blue and Green Stars, with GX denoting introduced taxa. Star ratings and their associated weights provide the basis for subsequent assessment of floristic Bioquality, including the concentration of globally rare taxa within species assemblages. The definitive VPJD Star ratings and associated Bioquality analyses will be released separately following completion and validation.