A dataset of desert plant images for deep learning recognition in Xinjiang in 2020–2021

Automatic recognition of desert plant types by machine vision can support the research on wind prevention and sand fixation, ecosystem value assessment, vegetation restoration and reconstruction, and reduce the dependence on plant expert identification. At present, the research on the machine discrimination model of desert plants mainly relies on the standardized high-quality plant specimen images, lacking the desert plant images obtained under complex natural conditions. This dataset provides typical desert plant images of Xinjiang that can be used for the model training of deep learning image classification, including 15,550 digital camera images of desert plants in Xinjiang obtained under different seasons, natural backgrounds and lighting conditions, and covering 19 typical desert plant types. Suaeda salsa has the smallest number of images and Artemisia desertorum has the biggest, 465 and 1,240 respectively, with a median of 800, which has met the training needs of mainstream deep learning model. This dataset can provide basic data for desert plant image segmentation, target detection and automatic recognition.