Rhus aromatica vs Rhus trilobata
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, 10 times. We publish the rate, and then we tell you what actually separates them.
Side by sidefigs. a and b
Rhus aromatica
Rhus trilobata
How often our model gets it wrong measured, not estimated
| When the plant was | The model said | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Rhus aromatica | Rhus trilobata | 2 of 16 (13%) |
| Rhus trilobata | Rhus aromatica | 8 of 20 (40%) |
The confusion is asymmetric, which is common and usually informative: it means one of these has a character the other lacks, rather than the two simply looking alike.
Measured on 38,299 openly licensed, research-grade photographs. Full method and dataset.
What actually separates themon the record
| Family | Both Anacardiaceae. The family does not separate them. |
|---|---|
| Genus | Both Rhus. Congeners, which is why this is hard. |
| Flowering | Peaks in May versus April. If the plant is in flower, timing helps. (n = 1,059 and 151.) |
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.