Distribution of alpine endemic plants of northern Asia: a dataset.

Background We describe a dataset providing information on the geographic distribution of northern Asian endemic alpine plants. It was obtained by digitising maps from the atlas "Endemic alpine plants of Northern Asia". Northern Asia includes numerous mountain ranges which may have served as refugia during the Pleistocene ice ages, but there have been no studies that analysed this question. We suggest that this dataset can be applied for better understanding of the alpine endemism in northern Asia. New information The dataset includes 13709 species distribution records, representing 211 species from 31 families and 106 genera. Each record provides data regarding the distribution of an individual species. These data provide a foundation for studying northern Asia's endemic alpine species and conducting research on the factors concerning their distribution.