Berberidaceae and Papaveraceae

Jeffersonia diphylla vs Sanguinaria canadensis

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

Confused 5x by our model Method published

Side by sidefigs. a and b

How often our model gets it wrong measured, not estimated

When the plant was The model said How often
Jeffersonia diphylla Sanguinaria canadensis 5 of 20 (25%)

The confusion runs one way only. The model mistakes Jeffersonia diphylla for Sanguinaria canadensis, but not the reverse.

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

What actually separates themon the record

Family Berberidaceae versus Papaveraceae. Different families, which is a real separation.
Genus Jeffersonia versus Sanguinaria.
Flowering Peaks in April versus April. Timing does not separate them. (n = 858 and 31,035.)

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