A dataset on inventory and geographical distributions of higher plants in Guangdong, China

The diversity of higher plants in Guangdong Province is very high, ranking sixth in China. Based on plants information from Floras, plant illustrated books, plant checklists of nature reserves, journal papers and dissertations, together with specimens, pictures from Plant Photo Bank of China and data from our field survey, this study compile a dataset of higher plants with county-level records in Guangdong Province. Each record in our dataset is a distribution of each taxon in a specific county or city. Up to July 2023, this dataset contains 8,107 taxa from 374 families and 2,284 genera of higher plants in Guangdong Province. For native wild higher plants, our dataset contains 6,864 taxa from 350 families and 1,828 genera, including 865 taxa belonging to 96 families and 272 genera of bryophytes (including hornworts, liverworts and mosses), 642 taxa belonging to 36 families and 123 genera of lycopods and pteridophytes, 35 taxa belonging to 7 families and 17 genera of gymnosperms and 5,322 taxa 211 families and 1,416 genera belonging to of angiosperms, together with 17 newly recorded species in Guangdong Province. The top 10 families with the largest number of species are Poaceae, Fabaceae, Orchidaceae, Cyperaceae, Rubiaceae, Lamiaceae, Asteraceae, Rosaceae, Lauraceae, Fagaceae and Gesneriaceae. This dataset also includes 323 species of invasive plants in 58 families and 204 genera, 257 species of naturalized plants in 62 families and 206 genera, and 662 species of common cultivated plants in 129 families and 441 genera in Guangdong Province. In addition, this study also provides a checklist of higher plants with excluded and dubious records in Guangdong Province, including 905 species of 545 genera in 182 families, for further research. Our data in this paper will provide basic information and system framework for the second edition of Flora of Guangdong.