Both Alisma

Alisma subcordatum vs Alisma triviale

These two are not on this page because a keyword tool suggested them. They are here because our own identification model genuinely mistook one for the other, on real photographs, 8 times. We publish the rate, and then we tell you what actually separates them.

Confused 8x by our model Same genus Alisma Method published

Side by sidefigs. a and b

Alisma subcordatum, photographed by Bonnie Semmling
fig. a Bonnie Semmling, CC BY 4.0

Alisma subcordatum

american water-plantain
Alisma triviale, photographed by Ryan Sorrells
fig. b Ryan Sorrells, CC BY 4.0

Alisma triviale

northern water-plantain

How often our model gets it wrong measured, not estimated

When the plant was The model said How often
Alisma triviale Alisma subcordatum 8 of 20 (40%)

Measured on 38,299 openly licensed, research-grade photographs. Full method and dataset.

What actually separates themon the record

Family Both Alismataceae. The family does not separate them.
Genus Both Alisma. Congeners, which is why this is hard.
Flowering Peaks in July versus July. Timing does not separate them. (n = 214 and 586.)

What we do not have yet: the diagnostic morphological character that a botanist would key on, from a source we can cite. We are not going to invent one. Until we have it, this page tells you the two are genuinely confusable, how often, and what the taxonomy and the flowering data do and do not settle.

Both recordsfull pages