Abstract: The north and south mountains of Lanzhou City are located at the westernmost part of the Loess Plateau, with herbaceous vegetation as the main vegetation, as well as shrubs, deserts and forests. In order to reveal the detailed vegetation types, community structures and their geographical distribution, this study used a combination of field sample lines, typical sample surveys and indoor analyses to carry out a more systematic investigation of the plant status of the two mountains, and summarised the data sets of plant community samples (a total of 72 sample plots). Through data collation, it was found that there were 713 species of plants of 107 families and 378 genera (including infraspecific units) in 4 phylums in the north and south mountains, among which there were 218 species of 124 genera in 59 families of artificial plants and 495 species of 282 genera in 79 families of natural plants; Plant growth forms was dominated by herbaceous plants (68.32%) whose life forms was mainly perennial (66.11%). Woody plants (31.68%) had a predominantly deciduous life forms (84.30%). Based on the community-ecology classification, the vegetation of the north and south mountains can be divided into 4 vegetation formations groups, 9 vegetation formations and 32 alliances, among which there are 5 needleleaf forest alliances, 5 broadleaf forest alliances, 10 shrubland alliances, 5 steppe alliances, 1 meadow alliances and 6 desert alliances. This dataset can provide background information for the study of plant diversity and ecology in the arid and semi-arid regions of Northwest China, and provide a scientific basis for the supply of regional ecosystem services, the improvement of ecological environment quality, and the sustainable development of society and economy.

Key words: Vegetation type, Plant community, Quadrat data, Lanzhou