Both Arbutus
Arbutus menziesii vs Arbutus xalapensis
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.
Side by sidefigs. a and b
Arbutus menziesii
Pacific madrone
Arbutus xalapensis
Texas madrone
How often our model gets it wrong measured, not estimated
| When the plant was | The model said | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Arbutus xalapensis | Arbutus menziesii | 8 of 17 (47%) |
Measured on 38,299 openly licensed, research-grade photographs. Full method and dataset.
What actually separates themon the record
| Family | Both Ericaceae. The family does not separate them. |
|---|---|
| Genus | Both Arbutus. Congeners, which is why this is hard. |
| Flowering | Peaks in April versus March. If the plant is in flower, timing helps. (n = 1,037 and 262.) |
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.