Juglandaceae and Fagaceae

Carya cordiformis vs Fagus grandifolia

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, 3 times. We publish the rate, and then we tell you what actually separates them.

Confused 3x by our model Method published

Side by sidefigs. a and b

Carya cordiformis, photographed by rboles
fig. a rboles, CC BY 4.0

Carya cordiformis

bitternut hickory
Fagus grandifolia, photographed by Jack Forrester
fig. b Jack Forrester, CC BY 4.0

Fagus grandifolia

American beech

How often our model gets it wrong measured, not estimated

When the plant was The model said How often
Carya cordiformis Fagus grandifolia 3 of 20 (15%)

The confusion runs one way only. The model mistakes Carya cordiformis for Fagus grandifolia, but not the reverse.

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

What actually separates themon the record

Family Juglandaceae versus Fagaceae. Different families, which is a real separation.
Genus Carya versus Fagus.

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