Both Juniperus

Juniperus deppeana vs Juniperus virginiana

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 Same genus Juniperus Method published

Side by sidefigs. a and b

Juniperus deppeana, photographed by Reid Hardin
fig. a Reid Hardin, CC BY 4.0

Juniperus deppeana

alligator juniper
Juniperus virginiana, photographed by Eric Schmidt
fig. b Eric Schmidt, CC BY 4.0

Juniperus virginiana

eastern redcedar

How often our model gets it wrong measured, not estimated

When the plant was The model said How often
Juniperus deppeana Juniperus virginiana 3 of 20 (15%)

The confusion runs one way only. The model mistakes Juniperus deppeana for Juniperus virginiana, but not the reverse.

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

What actually separates themon the record

Family Both Cupressaceae. The family does not separate them.
Genus Both Juniperus. Congeners, which is why this is hard.

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